The uncertainty around land reform, particularly the issue of expropriation without compensation, is already having a negative effect on the agricultural sector and the economy, agricultural industry body AgriSA told MPs in parliament on Wednesday. It said evidence on the ground suggested talk of expropriation without compensation had caused a significant lag in capital investment in the agricultural sector and farmers who wanted to sell their properties were struggling to find buyers. This week, Stats SA published GDP data for the second quarter of 2018, showing that the country had entered into a recession. The decline was mainly because of a drop in the production of field crops and horticultural products, it said. However, analysts said the drought in the Western Cape, and not necessarily policy, was a major factor in the sector’s dismal performance.
AgriSA said that amending section 25 of the constitution — or the property clause — would result in capital flight, deprecia...
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