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STATEMENTS FROM OTHER ORGANISATIONS

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WHEREAS section 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, provides as follows:

‘‘Property”
25. (1) No one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property.

(2) Property may be expropriated only in terms of law of general application—
(a) for a public purpose or in the public interest; and
(b) subject to compensation, the amount of which and the time and manner of payment of which have either been agreed to by those affected or decided or approved by a court.

(3) The amount of the compensation and the time and manner of payment must be just and equitable, reflecting an equitable balance between the public interest and the interests of those affected, having regard to all relevant circumstances, including—
(a) the current use of the property;
(b) the history of the acquisition and use of the property;
(c) the market value of the property;
(d) the extent of direct state investment and subsidy in the acquisition and beneficial capital improvement of the property; and
(e) the purpose of the expropriation.

(4) For the purposes of this section—
(a) the public interest includes the nation’s commitment to land reform, and to reforms to bring about equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources; and
(b) property is not limited to land.

(5) The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis.

(6)A person or community whose tenure of land is legally insecure as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled, to the extent provided by an Act of Parliament, either to tenure which is legally secure or to comparable redress.

(7) A person or community dispossessed of property after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled, to the extent provided by an Act of Parliament, either to restitution of that property or to equitable redress.

(8) No provision of this section may impede the state from taking legislative and other measures to achieve land, water and related reform, in order to redress the results of past racial discrimination, provided that any departure from the provisions of this section is in accordance with the provisions of section 36(1).

(9) Parliament must enact the legislation referred to in subsection (6).’’; and

WHEREAS section 33(1) of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair; and

WHEREAS section 34 of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to have any dispute that can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum; and

WHEREAS uniformity across the nation is required in order to deal effectively with these matters;

AND IN ORDER TO ENABLE expropriation in accordance with the Constitution,

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:—

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

CHAPTER 1 — DEFINITIONS AND APPLICATION OF ACT
1. Definitions
2. Application of Act

CHAPTER 2 — POWERS OF MINISTER TO EXPROPRIATE
3. Powers of Minister to expropriate
4. Delegation or assignment of Minister’s powers and duties

CHAPTER 3 — INVESTIGATION AND VALUATION OF PROPERTY
5. Investigation and gathering of information for purposes of expropriation
6. Consultation with municipality during investigation

CHAPTER 4 — INTENTION TO EXPROPRIATE AND EXPROPRIATION OF PROPERTY
7. Notice of intention to expropriate
8. Notice of expropriation 9
. Vesting and possession of expropriated property
10. Verification of unregistered rights in expropriated property
11. Consequences of expropriation of unregistered rights and duties of expropriating authority

CHAPTER 5 — COMPENSATION FOR EXPROPRIATION
12. Determination of compensation
13. Interest on compensation
14. Requests for particulars
15. Payment of compensation
16. Property subject to mortgage or deed of sale
17. Payment of municipal property rates, taxes and other charges out of compensation money
18. Deposit of compensation money with Master

CHAPTER 6 — MEDIATION AND DETERMINATION BY COURT
19. Mediation and determination by court

CHAPTER 7 — URGENT EXPROPRIATION
20. Urgent expropriation

CHAPTER 8 — WITHDRAWAL OF EXPROPRIATION
21. Withdrawal of expropriation

CHAPTER 9 — RELATED MATTERS
22. Service and publication of documents and language used therein
23. Extension of time
24. Expropriation register
25. Offences and fines
26. Regulations
27. Regulations, legal documents and steps valid under certain circumstances
28. Interpretation of other laws dealing with expropriation
29. Repeal
30. Transitional arrangements and savings
31. Short title and commencement