Sakeliga to Continue with Application After Land Expropriation List Leak

South African independent business organisation, Sakeliga says it is studying a list leaked to AfriForum of 195 properties identified for expropriation without compensation.

Sakeliga says it will in the meantime continue with its PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act) application to obtain the list of 139 properties supposedly identified as “expropriation targets” by the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development.

“Lamentable as this uncertainty about the contents of the expropriation list is, even worse is the certainty that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government have such list,” said Sakeliga CEO Piet le Roux on Sunday, following the alleged list being published by Afriforum.

Le Roux said it means the government has a “clear intent to violate one of the basic principles of constitutionalism, namely the recognition of private property. The only question remaining, it appears, is whether they want to hollow out the official Constitution by expropriating under its current text, or whether they want to expropriate under an amended text.

“Either way, we end up with foundational legal text that loses its legitimacy, and that can regain such legitimacy only once its protection of private property is restored,” says Le Roux.

“We recognise that the state will be reluctant in adhering to our PAIA request for the official list. However, we will persist in our demands and are preparing on all fronts to oppose the state on expropriation without compensation,” said Armand Greyling, Law and Policy Analyst at Sakeliga.