It’ s not just about land While many believe the Bill is strictly about land or immoveable property, Cronin maintains that this is not the case. Cronin is currently involved in leading ‒ from the government’ s side ‒ the process of taking the Expropriation Bill through public consultation and the parliamentary process. He emphasises that, despite President Jacob Zuma’ s repeated referral to the Bill as the Land Expropriation Bill, it is, in fact, a GENERAL expropriation bill that seeks to annul the 1975 Expropriation Act because of the Act’ s unconstitutional nature.
Cronin highlights that the Bill seeks to provide for what Section 25 of the Constitution( i. e. the Property Clause) requires, namely“‘ law of general application’ regarding expropriation”. Section 25 states that, in matters related to the expropriation of property,“ property is not limited to land”.
According to Cronin, this means that the proposed Bill doesn’ t rule out, nor explicitly allow for, the expropriation of other types of property, such as intellectual property.
It’ s not just about farm land either Having observed the so-called‘ land reform policies’ implemented in Zimbabwe under the leadership of Robert Mugabe, South Africans are understandably cautious about the concept of property expropriation, but still generally tend to think of it as being a rural or farmland issue.
Cronin sets the record straight:“ The democratic state needs expropriating powers. It needs to be able to drive rural land reform, but also mixed income, medium density human settlements in well-located
areas … These powers are needed not just for rural land reform, but also to confront run-away market forces driving the ongoing dispossession of the great majority of workers and poor in our country.” He adds that, as the government proceeds with radical reforms, it does need to be governed by the principle of just and equitable compensation.
For the DPW, the land issue is now a predominantly urban question. Cronin cites a“ systematic and mass-scale dispossession” occurring in poor black communities and areas like Woodstock, Bo-Kaap and the Cape Flats. He highlights that this is being done in the name of development by speculative property market activities,“ aided and abetted by City officials” and that, due to the crisis of indebtedness of the working poor and lower middle class, the scale of home-repossessions by the banks is fast approaching“ Apartheid-era Group Area removal proportions”.
ADDRESSING THE LEGACY OF APARTHEID SPECIAL PLANNING
To address and transform historical spatial planning in Cape Town specifically, UCT’ s African Centre for Cities and the Dutch International New Town Institute have formed a long-term collaboration that seeks to develop 120 hectares of open land between Pinelands and Observatory. The mixed-use project, called the Two Rivers Urban Park( TRUP) project, aims to create over 11 000 units for affordable housing for students and people earning less than R2000 and R25 000 per month.
According to a recent IOL article, the aim here is to create a“ diverse and yet socially inclusive” precinct in the city and“ socially mixed, integrated and sustainable communities” where people can live safely,“ work and play, and in particular … strive towards building a vibrant, safe, local resident community.”
12 APRIL 2017 SA Real Estate Investor www. reimag. co. za