Expropriation Act’s undercompensation provisions a threat to SA’s children – IRR

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has written to Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga, urging her to oppose the Expropriation Act’s threat of undercompensation and to consider the IRR’s Right To Own Bill as an alternative.

The letter has also been forwarded to Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson, whose department is responsible for the Act.

The IRR argues that compensation below the level required to restore an expropriated owner to the position they occupied before the taking never affects the owner alone. It threatens all dependants of such property owners and, as such, the housing, financial security and material circumstances of countless children.

Section 28(2) of the Constitution requires that a child’s best interests be of paramount importance in every matter concerning that child.

“The constitutional problem Minister Chikunga cannot ignore is that the state power to undercompensate poses a direct threat to children whose homes and economic security depend on the adults in whose care they are,” says IRR spokesperson Hermann Pretorius. “The undercompensated loss of a home, business, savings or other asset can directly weaken the ability of a parent or caregiver to provide for a child.”

The IRR is calling on Chikunga to oppose the undercompensation provisions of the Act and to make clear within Cabinet that the state should not pursue public purposes by imposing uncompensated losses on families and the children who depend on them.

The IRR has also sent Chikunga its Right To Own Bill, which offers an alternative approach based on secure property rights, market-value compensation and expanding formal ownership to more South Africans.

“Instead of weakening the security of what South Africans already own, government should be expanding secure ownership,” says Pretorius. “That strengthens the homes, assets and economic security on which children and families depend.

“Minister Chikunga has a responsibility to be a voice for South Africa’s children in government. It is her duty to stand up against threats to their best interests, wherever they arise.”

Read the full letter to Minister Chikunga here.

Media contact: Hermann Pretorius IRR Head of Strategic Communications

Tel: 079 875 4290 Email: hermann@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris IRR Head of Media Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za