Law firm says property owners should not fear Expropriation Act

Legal experts say property owners should have nothing to fear following the signing of the Expropriation Act, as it makes enough provision for checks and balances.

Law firm Cliff Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) gathered legal minds and experts for a webinar on the implications of the act and to clear the air around the policy.

The webinar explored issues around compensation, public interest, legal options and the impact on certain sections of the society including property owners and investors.

Sentebale Makara is from CDH, “While there is understandably controversy with regard to the act, its purpose and process of expropriation clearly evidence the property as not susceptible to arbitrary seizing. The process has its checks and balances throughout and I do believe again the circumstances that we’ve had historically of no compensation, it has not been a situation where there has just been a land grab akin to Zimbabwe I’ve seen in some media publications. My view is that there’s nothing to fear, we are just looking forward to the fine tuning of it either with regulations or a ministerial proclamation on it.”

Expropriation Act | A look at the fineprint in the legislation