South African Parliament agrees to consider Constitutional amendment for land expropriation without compensation

#1

I am hesitant to post about this here, so I thought I’d test the waters in off topic first… This just crossed the wire.

The National Council of Provinces has agreed that section 25 of the Constitution be amended to make expropriation of land without compensation more explicit.

This follows the National Assembly doing so yesterday. This means the matter is now a duly adopted resolution of Parliament.

…

Adoption of the committee’s report by both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces means that a Bill may be introduced, according to the procedures in Section 74 of the Constitution and the Rules of Parliament.

…

Details of the Bill would have to be published in the Government Gazette at least 30 days before it is introduced. This is to allow for public comment. The Bill must also be submitted to the nine provincial legislatures.

[More details on the process that still needs to be followed]

Stuff like this worries me.

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Beating Off 2.0
#2

Yeah, I don’t think it will end well.

Even if the current government does exactly as they promise and are very responsible, the opening is there for future governments to abuse it.

I don’t like to panic but the question now is do I carry on paying extra onto the homeloan or stop doing that and do something else with the money?

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#3

I can only hope the courts are more reasonable than the politicians

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#4

i just made an extra payment on my bond today :anguished:

i dont think we need to worry though i doubt that they’re going to target residential properties, they’re probably going to gun for the farms as their top priority

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#5

I find it incredibly troubling; In fact I find most of the politics in SA troubling at best. Often " The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and I honestly believe that this rings true for expropriation without compensation. The intentions are good, but it ends there. The current government doesn’t instill an air of confidence and their track record speaks for itself. I just hope sanity prevails before its too late.

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#6

We have already had 1 family that tried to occupy one of the houses a few blocks from me - near the golf course in Welgemoed dude… It took 2 ADT squads and 10 cops to remove the family - 2 adults, 2 teens and a baby

They had a newspaper with them with one of the articles about it on it, claiming the house is now theirs.

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#7

I also believe residential properties will be safe…for now. Never know what might happen in the future. Doesn’t mean I’m not concerned.
Not much we can do, really, except jumping ship when things do go haywire. Am I wrong?

#8

My problem with that is I am getting to old to jump ship - I don’t see how I will get into another country

#9

Gov may not target residential property, but it won’t stop renegade land grabs by the people

#10

Then work at getting a qualification that will get you in somewhere. It’s getting more difficult, but not impossible.

#11

Dude, I have diplomas in Public Relations and soon my Administrative Management - I cant afford to do another one.
I was turned down for Aus at age 26 - ended up being 1 point shy of qualifying.
That was with sponsorships from family who are residents there.

At almost 40, they look at experience as well as qualifications, but age is the big downfall, they prefer younger people because they will contribute longer to the country and be less of a drain.

#12

The intent is not for urban/commercial land to be expropriated, however nobody wants a piece of land in the middle of the Karoo. However people want land, so what land?

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#13

There is the other issue that the ANC wants to return land to those from which it was taken and then EFF wants the government to own all land and grant people usage. They aren’t gonna agree on that in the next phase of talks or whatever they’re gonna be doing in parliament and then it will all fall apart. Nothing will happen before the next elections anyway.

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#14

This is the bit where I get really concerned, and I’d honestly have to start wondering who land was taken from? When was this land allegedly taken, are we talking in the last 40 years, 60, 100, 150, 200, 400 years? Where do we draw the line? Secondly you have ask for proof of land ownership, again this is one of those things where you have to wonder if there is any documentation or proof that claimed land was owned/occupied by the claimant (or said claimant’s great great great great grandpeople).

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#15

I’m very concerned.

The biggest reason why we haven’t emigrated yet is because we are scared which is stupid since we are scared of how things are going here.

I think my wife and I will have to have a discussion of maybe leaving which sucks.

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#16

Honestly the grass isnt greener elsewhere but in general your quality of life will improve so much by doing the move. If I had the funds I would go now, on my own again and I will do fine.

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#17

Find a good reason to leave, being scared of how things are going will not last for long. When I bump into South Africans in the UK (and there are quite a few), you tend to get the “So why did you leave SA?” question or some variation of that. Honestly, the main reasons for me leaving SA was not safety, security or anything like that. My main reason for leaving was that I got a fantastic job offer which allowed me to provide a better future for my child.

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#18

Ill gladly take a piece of land in the middle of the Karoo.

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#19

We didn’t get a chance to really speak about it at the meetup — I still wanted to ask whether you considered immigrating.

I tend to agree with @PsychoFish, and I think most people on here are of the “SA 'aint so bad” camp. You always trade one set of problems for another. So find a positive/good reason to make the move.

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#20

I love SA, having spent time abroad (3 years give or take), I have the unique perspective that I LOVE our country, the people and politics not at all, but the country I love. It was odd, I was never homesick whilst abroad. I found the cost of living was very similar, but it was weird, I found living on my salary easier and I wasnt living paycheck to paycheck the way I do here.

I would honestly be on the next plane out if it wasnt for some family stuff right now.

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