NATIONAL NEWS - The lobby group says land expropriation without compensation is theft.
Rights group AfriBusiness said on Wednesday it would provide free legal aid to the first of its members affected by the government’s drive to expropriate land without compensation.
Parliament last month voted in favour of a motion brought by the EFF and supported by the ANC to amend the Constitution to allow expropriation without compensation.
On Wednesday, rural development and land reform minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said her department had already identified such land.
The government says expropriation is necessary to correct ownership imbalances where minority whites own the bulk of land forcibly taken from black people centuries ago.
“We are ready to institute legal action on behalf of the first AfriBusiness member whose property is expropriated without compensation in terms of an amendment of the property clause in the Constitution,” AfriBusiness CEO Piet le Roux said.
“Expropriation without compensation is theft, irrespective of whether it is made constitutional or not.”
