The Expropriation Act repeals pre-democratic legislation and sets out how organs of state may expropriate land

In January 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Bill into law. The Expropriation Act of 2024 repeals the 1975 legislation and establishes processes and procedures for expropriation of property by the State.

The Expropriation Act seeks to align expropriation legislation with the Constitution. Section 25 of the Constitution has always permitted expropriation, where it is for a public purpose and ordinarily subject to compensation. The Expropriation Act 2024 clarifies, what some commentators feel is implicit in section 25, when land may be expropriated without compensation.

The key provisions of the Expropriation Act, 2024 include:

• Property may not be expropriated arbitrarily or for a purpose other than a public purpose or in the public interest.
• Expropriation may not be exercised unless the State has failed to first reach an agreement with the owner or holder of a right in the property for the acquisition of the property on reasonable terms.
• The amount of compensation must be “just and equitable”, balancing the public interest, the interests of those affected and those of any mortgagee.
• Although the Expropriation Act contemplates the possibility of expropriating land without compensation, this is only in highly exceptional circumstances – where it would be just and equitable to expropriate land for the public interest having regard to all relevant circumstances, such as that the land is not being used and is not intended to be used productively, or land which has been abandoned by the owner.

Accordingly, expropriation without public purpose, compensation or where there has not been attempted negotiations is unlawful.

The legislation does not provide for arbitrary deprivation of property by the State. It rather seeks to align existing legislation with the Constitution and clarifies the regulations surrounding the government’s capacity and ability to expropriate.