WEALTH respects the rules of democracy ,” he shared .
Expropriation Bill expert , Dr Anthea Jeffery , Head of Policy Research at the Institute for Race Relations
She offered her analysis of the Bill , its origins , and its implications . “ The Expropriation Bill will enable the Government to expropriate land - and many other kinds of property - generally for inadequate compensation , significantly below market value . It will also allow the government to expropriate land - at times for no compensation , and this is likely to have very negative consequences for all South Africans , because property rights are really vital to investment , growth , employment , and prosperity .
There ’ s also a further risk with the Bill that it will allow custodial takings - in other words , that the Government - rather than having to expropriate one piece of property after another - will , by the stroke of a legislative pen , be able to take custodianship of vast amounts of land , and the people living there - as farm owners , home owners , factory owners - will have to lease from the Government ,
and may lose their leases in wideranging circumstances , too .
So there will be huge uncertainty about being able to do business , about being able to reside in your own home , which will be extremely negative for the country and all its people . We need to recognise that property rights are the key to prosperity , to investment , and to the kind of better life that all South Africans would like to see .”
Dr Theo de Jager , Executive Director of SAAI
He presented Implications of the Expropriation Bill for Agriculture and Food Security : “ This whole conference was actually about threats to ownership , to private property rights . From a farmer ’ s perspective , to have a title , to have secure ownership is much more than just a contract which shows that you own property - it ’ s the very foundation of a free market , it ’ s the cornerstone of capital . It is the reason why we have access to production loans , it serves as collateral .
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine AUG / SEPT 2023 74