Democratic South Africa’s constitutional dawn in 1994 was luminous with the promise of non-racialism, the promise of a future of hope for all South Africans. It was a radical departure from our segregated, hurtful past—a firm commitment to treating every citizen equally before the law and no longer based on the immutability of race.
Yet, three decades later, the Equitable Access to Land Bill is the latest legislative disregard of the constitutional promise of non-racialism, reinforcing racial divisions under the guise of redress while still leaving the fundamental problem unsolved.
Coming on the heels of the recently signed Expropriation Act (2025), which legalises land confiscation without compensation, this proposed legislation on “equitable access to land” seeks to reorder land ownership in South Africa based primarily on racial quotas predetermined by government elites.
It does not account for economic need, farming expertise, or legal property rights as embodied in our Constitution. Rather than fulfilling the constitutional imperative of non-racialism and an equal and just society for all, it betrays it—and in doing so, fails to advance meaningful redress or economic justice.
Non-Racialism: A Constitutional Cornerstone, Not an Empty Filler
The principle of non-racialism is not a vague aspiration but a fundamental constitutional value. Section 1 of the Constitution entrenches non-racialism alongside human dignity, equality, and the rule of law. This was no accident. It was a decisive rejection of apartheid’s racial categorisation and a commitment to a future where race would no longer be the basis for state policy.
Yet, the Equitable Access to Land Bill represents a regression to the past. Instead of eliminating racialism and striving to build a better future for all South-Africans, it institutionalises it in the realm of property rights. It resurrects the logic that land ownership must be determined by skin colour rather than skill, investment, or economic necessity. This is not justice; it is a distortion of constitutional values.
The Expropriation Act was already a body blow to South Africa’s investment climate. It allows the state to seize land without paying its owners, provided that the Act serves the “public interest.” However, the new Equitable Access to Land Bill intends to define “public interest” through a racial lens, effectively making expropriation a tool of racial redistribution, creating a dangerous centralized weapon in the hands of our ANC government which has over so many years already demonstrated that its motives are not pure. They are for the ANC’s own political benefit.
History offers dire warnings. Zimbabwe’s land seizures in the early 2000s, which followed a similar racial redistribution agenda, led to economic collapse, hyperinflation, and widespread hunger. The impact on South Africa could be just as devastating. The Bill ignores the necessity of security of tenure—without which farmers cannot invest in their land, banks cannot lend, and productivity collapses.
A Self-Inflicted Disaster
South Africa’s economy is already on the ropes. It is in dire need of a change of course. The credit-rating agencies have raised alarms over political interference in property rights. Foreign investors are pulling out, and are sceptical about returning any time soon, due to the lack of stability and a clear policy framework that is supportive to the business community and the economy as a whole. The Equitable Access to Land Bill will exacerbate this crisis.
Property rights are the foundation of economic stability. When the government signals that ownership is contingent on racial demographics rather than legal security, capital flees. Trade relations with key partners like the European Union and the United States, which hinge on protection of property rights, will be jeopardised. Moreover, research by Free SA has highlighted the link between the protection of property rights and economic prosperity. South Africa risks following Venezuela and Zimbabwe into economic purgatory.
Have no doubts about it: land reform is necessary to ensure that social justice prevails. But the government’s track record in this area is abysmal. Studies show that previously redistributed farms in South Africa have overwhelmingly become unproductive. With this Bill, the cycle will continue: productive land will be handed to new owners without sufficient farming experience or capital support. The result? Reduced agricultural output, rising food prices, and increased dependency on food imports, which will especially harm those most vulnerable in our communities.
A genuine commitment to redress, not based on race and not marred by corruption, would prioritise sustainable, skills-based land reform—not an ideologically-driven redistribution agenda that is doomed to fail.
The solution, both to ensure the protection of property rights and to ensure that adequate redress occurs for the injustices of the past, is to use the large portions of undeveloped hectares of land in government possession, and to partner with the private sector in building much-needed adequate housing on those portions of land. If the focus is on developing the land for agricultural purposes, government should work with farming experts in improving the skills of individuals taking part in the programme and ensuring sustainable long-term development of skills from this initiative.
A Legal and Constitutional Betrayal
The Bill not only violates property rights but also contradicts the principle of non-racialism. The Constitutional Court has historically ruled that race-based policymaking must be carefully balanced to ensure it does not perpetuate new injustices.
Yet, the Equitable Access to Land Bill does precisely that. It does not compensate landowners fairly and is flawed in its practicability. It does not consider landowners’ investments or contributions to the economy. It reduces land reform to a racial numbers game, rather than a strategy for long-term economic inclusion.
Conclusion
South Africa does not need to choose between land reform and property rights; the two can and must coexist. What we need is a redress policy rooted in economic empowerment, skills transfer and development, and investment in sustainable farming that can revitalize our rural communities.
True non-racialism does not mean ignoring the past. It means crafting policies that uplift all South Africans without replicating the racial injustices of past times. The Equitable Access to Land Bill fails this critical test. It does not advance justice. It undermines it.
South Africa should uphold its constitutional promise of non-racialism and commit to sustainable land reform, or it can embrace a path that will bring economic and social destruction.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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