U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a Feb. 5 post on X he will not be attending the late November G20 summit in South Africa due to the nation’s “doing very bad things,” including “expropriating private property.”
Rubio was referring to the Expropriation Act that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law on Jan. 24. The law has sparked controversy within the country and international criticism, including from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Feb. 2 that the law has led to South African authorities “confiscating land and treating a certain class of people very badly.”
Ramaphosa denied Trump’s accusations, stating on Feb. 3 that his government “has not confiscated any land,” and defending the newly adopted law:
“The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution.”
That is misleading.
Though carefully worded, the Expropriation Act legalizes the South African government’s confiscation of private property, including land, and repossession without compensation in some instances.
The new law is a significant shift from the government’s previous land reform based on the “willing seller, willing buyer” principle, whereby the government would buy land and redistribute it to Black South African farmers.
In contrast, the new law defines ‘‘expropriation’’ as a “compulsory acquisition of property for a public purpose or in the public interest by an expropriating authority, or an organ of state upon request to an expropriating authority.’’
The act defines ‘‘Public interest’’ as the government’s “commitment to land reform, and to reforms to bring about equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources in order to redress the results of past racial discriminatory laws or practices.”
The new law will revisit “the history of the acquisition and use of the property,” allowing the “restitution of property or to equitable redress to those lost their properties after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled.”
For decades, the Native Land Act of 1913 blocked Black South Africans from purchasing or renting land in designated regions.
Since the beginning of majority Black rule in 1994, South Africa has grappled with reversing apartheid-era laws and practices and increasing land ownership among Black farmers.
Although white South Africans make up just over 7 percent of the population, they own more than 70 percent of all privately owned farmland in the country.
The new law says that “no one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property.” And as Ramaphosa stated, no land has been taken under the new law’s provisions.
At the same time, chapter two of the new law gives the government minister the power to acquire land for a variety of purposes, including infrastructure development, public services, and land reform.
Furthermore, the South African government website’s Land Reform page says, “on Tuesday, 27 February 2018, the National Assembly adopted a motion to amend the Constitution so as to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.”
“The government supports a land restitution and redistribution process which supports agricultural production and investment in the land,” the government website says.
