Land bill's sore points

The proposed Expropriation Bill - which allows the state to take possession of property before any compensation is paid - is unconstitutional and will hamper economic growth, should it be passed.

This is according to researcher Anthea Jeffery, who spoke at a briefing held by the Free Market Foundation in Johannesburg yesterday.

The Department of Public Works published the latest version of the draft Expropriation Bill for public comment in March. The bill is now in front of parliament.

"Although it seems like a major advance, in practice the gain is likely to be negated by other aspects of the bill, in particular it allows hundreds of organs of state to take ownership and possession of property by simply giving notice to the owner and before compensation has been paid," said Jeffery, who is the head of special research for the South African Institute of Race Relations.

A previous expropriation bill - of 2008 - was "clearly unconstitutional, as it attempted to prevent the courts from deciding the compensation due to the owner of an expropriated property".

"The current bill gives the courts the power to decide on 'just and equitable' compensation, based on market value. However, it allows expropriation to take place before the state has shown that all relevant constitutional requirements have been met. In addition, it fails to recognise that, where the expropriated property includes a person's home, any eviction requires the express authority of the courts," Jeffery said.

The option of going to court to appeal the measure of compensation, however, is only suitable to people with "deep pockets", she said.

Jeffery said instead of passing the Expropriation Bill, government should rather bring the Expropriation Act of 1975 in line with the constitution by making three changes, namely:

• Allow expropriation in the "public interest", or for "public purposes";
• Balance market value to ensure fair compensation; and
• Make a provision that the state must obtain a court order confirming the validity of a proposed expropriation before it issues a notice to expropriate.