S’Africa proposes bill to ban foreign ownership of land

S’Africa proposes bill to ban foreign ownership of land

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Foreign nationals can only be entitled to long term leasing of land with
a minimum of 30 years and will not be allowed to buy land in South
Africa under a proposed bill, South Africa’s Presidency said on
Saturday.

The Land Holdings Bill will also regulate the amount of land that any
individual can own with the limit being 12,000 hectares, an
approximate equivalent of two farms, the Presidency said in a
statement.

If any single individual owns above that limit, the government would
buy the excess land and redistribute it, said the Presidency.

The Bill will soon be sent to the cabinet for approval, after which will
be a process of public consultation and thereafter it will be submitted
for the necessary parliamentary procedures before being assented to
by the president.

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in parliament on Thursday,
South African President Jacob Zuma announced an end to the
ownership of land by foreigners.

He said a bill in this regard will be submitted to parliament this year.
The announcement has given rise to jitters among investors over the
bill’s possible impact on foreign investment.

“Once the Bill is assented to by the president, foreign nationals can
only be entitled to long term leasing of land with a minimum of 30
years and will not be allowed to buy land in South Africa,” the
Presidency said.

“The practice of limiting land ownership by foreign nationals and
juristic persons is an established practice internationally.”

Under the proposed bill, foreign nationals and juristic persons are
understood as noncitizens as well as juristic persons whose dominant
share holder or controller is a foreign controlled enterprise, entity or
interest. Hence not all immigrants to South Africa will be excluded
from land ownership.

This category of foreign nationals that are noncitizens will not be able
to own land in freehold from the time the policy is passed into law.
They will be allowed a long term lease of 30 to 50 years, according to
the bill.

It is recognized that this cannot apply retrospectively without
constitutional infringements and as such those who have already
acquired freehold would not have their tenure changed by the passing
of the proposed law.

Furthermore, environmentally and security sensitive lands as well as
those that are of historic and have cultural significance, and strategic
lands (for land reform and socioeconomic development) will be
classified by law and land ownership by foreign nationals (noncitizens)
in these areas will be discouraged.

This policy seeks to address the need to secure South Africa’s limited
land for food security and address the land injustice of more than 300
years of colonialism and apartheid, presidential spokesperson Mac
Maharaj said.

Forty-five percent of the country’s population (23 million) live on or
below the poverty line, and 58 percent of this poverty stricken people
are in rural areas.

Access to a land allotment for households and rural entrepreneurs and
enterprises has shown to go a long way in addressing equity and
poverty, Maharaj said.

Furthermore, in many instances high value agricultural land has had its
use changed to luxury and leisure uses and environmentally sensitive
lands have also been inappropriately developed, he said.

In some parts of the country escalations in prices have been
experienced which have made land in these areas inaccessible to
citizens, he added.

According to Maharaj, the proposed policy makes provisions for
exemptions to access lands in classified areas based on certain
conditions, primarily developmental.