Is expropriation allowed in South Africa?
The Expropriation Bill 2020 was gazetted and submitted to parliament for review last year. This Bill, alongside amending of Section 25 of the Constitution, will allow expropriation without compensation in South Africa for the first time.
What is the law of expropriation?
Expropriation legislation sets qualifying conditions for expropriations and the procedures that must be followed. The government cannot take land as a punishment to the owner or on other political, unreasonable or capricious grounds. The land must be needed for a clear public purpose.
What is expropriation in South Africa?
In Chapter 1 of the Bill, ”Expropriation” is defined as the compulsory gaining of property by an expropriating authority or an organ of the state upon request to an expropriating authority.
Is land expropriation legal?
One such law is the Expropriation Act, which governs how the government can acquire land owned by private citizens for public purposes such as building roads and railways. The constitution laid down a framework in which expropriation must happen, but did not provide the details of how. This is the role of legislation.
Is land expropriation without compensation legal in South Africa?
Expropriation of land without compensation in South Africa – where are we? Section 25 of the Constitution in its current form does not expressly provide for the expropriation of property without compensation and, in fact, section 25(2)(b) expressly provides for compensation.
Is expropriation without compensation currently possible under South African law?
The ANC and EFF have agreed to amend Section 25 of the Constitution not only to make possible expropriation without compensation but also for land state custodianship.
What is power of expropriation?
Together with police power and the power of taxation, the power of eminent domain, sometimes referred to as expropriation or condemnation, is one of the tripod of great powers that inheres in the State in the exercise of sovereign authority.
Can the US government take your land?
Eminent domain entitles the government to take land for public use. Property owners are rarely successful in stopping governments from taking their property under eminent domain. But the U.S. Constitution gives them the right to “just compensation.”
What does land expropriation without compensation mean in South Africa?
As in many other countries, expropriation has been part of South African law for decades. But the new changes will allow the state not to pay for land, to allow expropriation for land reform in particular. The bill says property can only be confiscated when it serves a public purpose or is in the public interest.
What are the effects of land expropriation without compensation?
The entire economy and its citizenry will pay for land seizures through lost agriculture export revenues, lost job opportunities, loss of confidence – which would lead to the flight of domestic and foreign direct investment from the sector and the economy at large.
What could be the negative impact of land expropriation without compensation?
