COSATU Submission: Expropriation With Out Compensation (Section 25) 04 September 2018

Introduction Welcome national and parliamentary debate; Landless crises: Informal areas; Farm workers and labour tenants; Communal land tenure. New and emerging farmers’ difficulties; Pressured agricultural sector; and Largest non-state employer. Emotional volatility.

Property and Land Billions (Rands) spent since 1994 on land reform and housing; Remaining racially skewed land and farm ownership; Collapse of many new & emerging farmers; Growth of informal areas; Evictions of farm workers; and Lack of communal land tenure security, especially women.

Section 25 – Compels Government to Advance land reform and restitution; Provide security of rights and tenure to the dispossessed and those denied under apartheid; and Property rights cannot block this broader transformational mandate.

Section 25: Compensation Current use of the property; History of the acquisition and use of the property; Market value of the property; Extent of state investment and subsidy in improvement of the property; and Property is not limited to land.

Section 25: Compensation Purpose of the expropriation; Public interest includes the nation’s commitment to land reform, and to reforms to bring equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources; Failure to achieve land reform not the failure of the Constitution; and Amend if constitutionally necessary for legal clarity.

Expropriation Act COSATU and business support for Act; Extensive Nedlac and Parliamentary engagements and; Unnecessary Parliamentary delays; Correct legislative vehicle; Reflects values and mandate of Constitution; and Speeds up court processes and caters for Valuer General.

Expropriation Act – Proposed Amendments for Expropriation With Out Compensation Abandoned land; Neglected land owned by absentee landlords; Idle land that is needed for productive public use; State owned land; and Land occupied by labour tenants historically.

Expropriation Act – Proposed Amendments for Expropriation With Out Compensation Land who’s value has been unfairly inflated due to massive state investments there or nearby; Land held to speculative ransom that is needed for productive use; and Land offered by owner to state as a donation e.g. for land reform etc.

Expropriation Act – Proposed Amendments for Expropriation With Out Compensation Land expropriated during apartheid or colonial eras where market value was not paid to original owner and was not paid for by the current owner; and Land who’s owner benefited from unfair discriminatory loan during apartheid era e.g. farmer given below market value loan now wanting market value compensation.

Expropriation Act – Proposed Amendments for Expropriation With Out Compensation Agricultural land above land holding limit thresholds support by the Minister for DAFF as envisaged in the Regulation of Land Holdings Bill.

Related Delayed Land Reform Legislation Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Bill; Regulation of Land Holding Bill; Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill; and Communal Land Tenure Bill.