By Simon Nare
President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Expropriation Bill into law, paving the way for provincial governments and municipalities to expropriate private land.
The new law repeals the pre-democratic Expropriation Act of 1975 and sets out how organs of state may expropriate land in the public interest for various reasons.
The Presidency said the new law, which has undergone a five-year process of public consultation and parliamentary deliberation, aligned legislation on expropriation with the Constitution.
“Section 25 of the Constitution recognises expropriation as an essential mechanism for the state to acquire someone’s property for a public purpose or in the public interest, subject to just and equitable compensation being paid.
“Up to now, expropriation of property has been governed in terms of the Expropriation Act of 1975, which predates the expropriation mechanism provided for in section 25(2) of the Constitution,” The Presidency said in a statement on Thursday.
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