South Africa Expropriation Plan to Exclude Black-Owned Land
- Government minister met with traditional leaders over proposal
- Lawmakers started process to change constitution on ownership
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
South Africa’s push for the right to seize land without compensation won’t target property that belongs to black citizens or is controlled by traditional leaders, according to Zweli Mkhize, the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
Lawmakers started a process to change the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation in February after the ruling party decided last year to adopt the measure as a policy to speed up giving black people more land. Access to land is one of the symbols of inequality in the nation of about 56 million where wealth and poverty are largely divided along racial lines.