Expropriation Bill key to transformation trajectory – Office of ANC Chief Whip

Author: Moloto Mothapo

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip welcomes the National Assembly’s passing today of one of the most important transformative pieces of legislation post 1994, the Expropriation bill. The Bill empowers the State to expropriate land for public purpose or in the public interest through a just and equitable compensation.

 

The passing of this draft legislation is without a doubt key to our transformation trajectory, and it will intensify the land reform program and bring about equitable access to South Africa’s land, natural resources and food security. The past racially based injustices of land dispossession; economic deprivation and subjugation have condemned the majority of South Africans to devastating generational suffering, resulting in the poverty, inequality and unemployment which continue to confront their daily lives today.

 

The Bill repeals the apartheid era Expropriation Act of 1975 and is a progressive departure from the ineffective willing-buyer, willing-seller approach, which has not assisted our land reform program. The willing buyer- willing seller principle has in the past forced government to pay extortionate amounts for land, frustrated the redistribution process and hamstrung its ability to achieve redistribution targets.

 

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