LAND EXPROPRIATION
ANTHONY BUTLER: Creating a crisis is a way to initiate change, but there are risks
The political energy unleashed by the ‘land question’ may now be channelled towards long-anticipated and benign policy changes that have been blocked by entrenched interests
It sometimes seems that SA is inherently unstable and beset by calamities that threaten to unravel the whole fabric of society. However, in a conservative and deeply resilient country such as SA, an apparent crisis is usually not a real crisis. At first sight, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambitious drive to boost foreign and domestic investment cannot be reconciled with his calls for land expropriation without compensation. Surely a crisis of confidence in property rights will destroy investor confidence? The trouble with a real catastrophe is that once it strikes it is usually too late to do much about it. The most astute politicians and business moguls recognise this fact. For this reason, they try to identify the potential solutions to major challenges in advance. Only then do they engender a sense of crisis that allows a chokehold on policy change to be released.SA’s apparent crises are often the creations of canny politicians and businesspeople working in cahoots. Take the democ...
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