South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill that will allow the government to seize land without having to pay compensation, which some in the government say is a threat to private ownership.
The law, which replaces the pre-democratic Expropriation Act of 1975, “outlines how expropriation can be done and on what basis” by the state, the government says, according to the BBC.
Ramaphosa’s party, the African National Congress, or ANC, hailed the law as a “significant milestone.” However, some members of the government have signaled they will challenge the legality of the law.
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The country’s majority Black citizens own just a small fraction of farmland more than 30 years after the end of apartheid. Most landowners are part of the White minority, according to the news report.
The new law allows for the expropriation of land without compensation only in circumstances where it is “just and equitable and in the public interest.”
That includes when the property is not being used and there’s no intention to either develop it or if it poses a public safety risk.
“In terms of this law, an expropriating authority may not expropriate property arbitrarily or for a purpose other than a public purpose or in the public interest,” Vincent Magwenya, the president’s spokesperson, said in a news release.
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“Expropriation may not be exercised unless the expropriating authority has without success attempted to reach an agreement with the owner or holder of a right in property for the acquisition thereof on reasonable terms,” he added.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party in the government, said it “strongly opposes” the law and was consulting with its lawyers.
It says that while it supports legislation addressing land restitution, it takes issue with the process followed by the country’s parliament to enact the law, the BBC report states.
The Freedom Front Plus party, which defends the rights of South Africa’s White minority, vowed to challenge the law and do “everything in its power” to have it amended if it is found to be unconstitutional.
