Link to Atlas Project

Documents

Overview

The ANC’s 54th National Conference (16-20 December 2017) resolved to expropriate land without compensation (EWC) as one of the mechanisms to take forward its resolution to “pursue with greater determination the programme of land reform and rural development as part of the programme of radical socio-economic transformation.” The Conference further resolved that EWC would be implemented in a manner that ensured sustained agricultural production, improved food security and no negative impacts on other sectors or the economy as a whole. These resolutions were followed by the February 2018 Motion by the National Assembly of Parliament on “Expropriation without Compensation.” Consequently, Parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee was tasked to investigate the possible amendment of Section 25 of the South African Constitution to enable EWC.

Furthermore, On the 15 of the December 2015, the Speaker’s Forum established the High-Level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation and the Acceleration of Fundamental Change (hereafter referred to the Panel or HLP). The Panel was mandated to review and examine post-1994 legislation, assess its implementation, identify gaps and propose action steps towards strengthening the existing legislative framework for achieving transformation. The report of the Panel was released in November 2017. These recent developments have enlivened the national dialogue on South Africa’s land question, spawning a range of debates, in which the feasibility, various implications, need for and possible modes of implementation of EWC are being vigorously debated throughout the country.

Given the aforementioned, a number of related technical and policy research matters have arisen, and require further consideration by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR). The Chief Directorate: Policy Research and Development in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has been tasked with a range of research assignments related to policy aimed at advancing policy analysis and development. Amongst those issues, there are: Deeper Engagement/ Critique of High Level Panel Report (HLP); Expropriation Without Compensation (EWC) Research; Land Rights and Land Administration Policy Research; Participatory Approaches to Land Reform: International Benchmarking; and other additional research tasks and write-ups on short term requests.