What is it about?
The paper discusses the controversial issue of the Expropriation without Compensation policy in South Africa. It analyzes the nature of South Africa’s expropriation bill which was proposed in 2018 (the bill that intends to offer the government the power to expropriate land without paying compensation) and make inference to cases of expropriation (its nature and procedure) and the requirements for any such appropriate undertaking.
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Why is it important?
The authors (on the basis of a cross sectional analysis) seek to establish what the bill means for the practice of international law as well as the likely impact it will have on the image of South Africa with respect to foreign direct investment and the country’s development. It eventually recommends some possible pragmatic ways of handling the controversial bill and it related matters.
Perspectives
The article postulates that "though the 'willing buyer, willing seller' policy may seem a bit ‘outdated’ – given the practical ineffectiveness of the policy as is evident from the available results, so is the populist rhetoric of not paying for a 'stolen land' untenable." In other words, "It is right to seek justice for the oppressed and the underprivileged but it is equally right to be pragmatic and not to cause people to become underprivileged and oppressed in order to justify historical misdeeds. A right balance must be sought in this very dicey situation – land expropriation without compensation is certainly not the right path after reconciliation."
Dr. Thomas Prehi Botchway
University of Education, Winneba
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: State Responsibility and the Question of Expropriation: A Preliminary to the “Land Expropriation without Compensation” Policy in South Africa, Journal of Politics and Law, February 2019, Canadian Center of Science and Education,
DOI: 10.5539/jpl.v12n1p98.
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