Land Expropriation: The DA, AfriForum's Bid to Preserve Historical Imbalances

The Democratic Alliance (DA), supported by AfriForum and the Institute of Race Relations, are taking legal action to declare the land expropriation law invalid and unconstitutional. The DA asserts that the law is irrational because it imposes an unattainable 180-day time frame for seeking compensation after expropriation. They argue that Parliament improperly passed the Act due to provincial delegates voting on the bill without proper authority from their respective provincial legislatures.

AfriForum and the IRR target specific clauses in the Act, particularly sections 12(2)(e), 12(3), and 12(4), which allow for no or minimal compensation during land expropriation. These groups contend that these provisions undermine the constitutional property clause, shifting the burden of land reform onto individual property owners.

The history of land dispossession in South Africa dates back centuries, starting with Dutch and British settlements seizing indigenous lands. The Natives Land Act of 1913 formalized this dispossession by restricting Black land ownership to just 7% of the country. This inequality persisted through various discriminatory laws, including the Native Trust and Land Act of 1936, which expanded reserves for Black South Africans to 13%.

The forced removals of entire communities during the apartheid era further exacerbated the issue, displacing over 60,000 people from urban centers like Sophiatown and Lady Selbourne. The struggle for land reform intensified in the post-apartheid era, with the ANC government prioritizing land restitution following the first democratic elections in 1994.

However, progress has been slow, with only 5.4% of commercial farmland transferred to Black ownership by 2005. The debate over land reform surged in the 2010s, culminating in the recent signing of the Expropriation Act in 2025, which establishes a legal framework for expropriation without compensation.