President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that land expropriation without compensation will be treated responsibly. It would be responsible for the first step to be to determine the legality of this. Litigation in Zimbabwe’s case showed that land expropriation is illegal in international law. It is contrary to a dozen treaties that SA has signed and ratified. It is also a principle enshrined in domestic law. The constitution cannot therefore be changed to make expropriation without compensation legal. Treaty law is superior law. Ramaphosa should approach the Constitutional Court to confirm whether or not this is the case. In an article, Dlamini-Zuma warns of land time bomb (September 21), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says denying land rights to the black majority is a time bomb because people’s patience is "slowly wearing out". She should have made it clear who is denying land rights to the black majority. It is 20 years since about 80,000 land claims closed at the end of 1998. A successful land...
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