- All states need the power of expropriation in some instances, but expropriation should be fair, legal and rare.
- Implemented as it is drafted, the Expropriation Bill will not result in very dramatic changes in SA’s property or expropriation regime, but there is a significant risk that its passage will signal a period of overuse and abuse of powers of expropriation.
- The principal protection against overuse/abuse is that compensation must be paid for expropriated property. This provision still applies but has been weakened by provisions that permit nil compensation to be payable in exceptional circumstances.
- CDE has proposed amendments that would strengthen accountability for misuse of expropriation powers and further limit the circumstances in which a court might determine that it would be just and equitable for the state to pay no compensation for land it has expropriated.
