South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has targeted 139 farms that they plan to expropriate without compensation in the coming weeks, in line with section 25 of the country's Constitution, according to the website News 24.
It cited Zizi Kodwa, a member of the ANC's national executive committee (NEC), as saying that the move should be "appreciated" by domestic and international investors, given that "long-term investment is tied [to] ownership of land by the majority of people."
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"In other words, if you are talking about sustainable long-term certainty, it is tied to addressing the injustices of the past. You can appreciate the jittery response and so on, the shocks at the moment, but what we are doing now is to create policy certainty and the conditions for future investment," Kodwa added.
His remarks came after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed ANC party's push for allowing land expropriation without compensation in the country.
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He vowed that the ANC will "finalize a proposed amendment" to the constitution in a measure which he described as "critically important" to the country's economy.
Even though South Africa passed a law allowing land expropriation in 2016, Ramaphosa said that he believes that the constitution should be "more explicit" on the issue.
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The ANC supported, but amended the motion, with Ramaphosa pledging to speed up the transfer of land from white to black owners.
The proposal comes amid growing public anger about the slow pace of land reform in South Africa, where a few thousand white commercial farmers reportedly possess the lion's share of the country's fertile land.