The legal seizure of land from South African white farmers may result in catastrophic economic consequences, The Daily Star cited the country's politicians, bankers and experts as saying.
Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank Ruben Naidoo warned of "an extremely large systematic effect on the banking sector" when it comes to the white farmers land grab issue.
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Alexander C.R. Hammond, a senior fellow at African Liberty, for his part, cautioned that "disregarding the property rights of an ethnic minority due to the historical grievances committed by their racial group nearly always ends in catastrophe".
"If the South African people instead give the ANC [African National Congress] another term in office and support that egregious land expropriation policy, the brutal consequences on their nation are certain to come hard and fast", he pointed out.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of South Africa's Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), in turn, expressed serious concern about the expropriation of land without compensation, which he claimed may deter foreign investment, among other things.
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"If I put myself in the feet of an investor in Europe or America, and I’m asked to go to a country where there’s expropriation without compensation… unless I need my head read, I would not go there", Buthelezi said.
His remarks came after media reports said that white farmers in South Africa could be forced to give up their own homes in line with the constitutional go-ahead for land expropriation without compensation already in 2019.
The developments come after the country's parliament approved the establishment of a committee which is due to hammer out a legal amendment to section 25 of the constitution and present it early next year.
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In August, he pledged that South Africa's ruling African National Congress will "finalise a proposed amendment" to the constitution in a measure which he described as "critically important" to the country's economy.
In South Africa, 73 percent of agricultural estates still belong to white South Africans, who make up 10 percent of the country's population.