Tomorrow is the deadline for public comment on the Expropriation Bill, and it is vital that South Africans use this opportunity to resist a measure which risks being abused by the government to top up budgets brought out of kilter by its own wastefulness and corruption, says the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).
The IRR points out that while the country desperately needs economic growth to solve its problems, which range from poverty and unemployment to the finance minister’s own burden of balancing the state’s books, the government persists with policies and proposals that will continue to deter investment.
‘It is clinging to labour and mining legislation that is clearly not fit for purpose, turning increasingly to protectionism and indigenisation, and all the while doggedly trying to pass a catastrophic Expropriation Bill that weights the scales in favour of government, together with a Constitutional Amendment that will explicitly allow for expropriation without compensation,’ the IRR says in a statement released after this week’s budget speech.
‘These are developments that investors will be following closely and with great concern. The undermining of property rights is presented as being in support of land reform, but in fact all types of property will be affected, not just land or real estate. Also, investors and savers are well advised to keep an eye on the on-the-table, off-the-table discussion around prescribed assets.’
The IRR says that though the government backed off from the idea of prescribed assets under intense pressure from the IRR and other civil society actors, ‘it may make a comeback, either under the same name or in a different guise. The provisions of the Expropriation Bill, once passed, could also be used to motivate for the expropriation of private property “in the public interest” of balancing the budgets brought out of kilter by the government’s own wastefulness and corruption.’
The IRR is ‘fighting the good fight against these harmful policies’, but needs support from companies and individuals.
Says IRR Chief of Staff John Endres: ‘On behalf of ordinary citizens, the IRR has been enquiring from banks and institutional investors whether they are speaking up in support of property rights, and making submissions to Parliament ahead of the deadline (tomorrow, 28 February). They have an indisputable interest in property rights and their voices carry great weight. They owe it to South Africa’s people to use their power accordingly.’
Endorse the IRR’s submission here.