Ekurhuleni R30M land expropriation could become test case

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to Professor Ruth Hall, Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape.

Listen below:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has slammed a decision by the City of Ekurhuleni to expropriate private land without compensation.

The 34-hectare piece of property was expropriated by the metro in 2019, with the city saying it would be used to build much needed housing.

Owners Business Venture Investments 900 (BVI 900) have taken the matter to the Johannesburg High Court - fighting not the expropriation, but the zero compensation decision.

BVI 900 says the property is worth R30 million.

ALSO READ: President signs Expropriation Bill into law - how 'nil compensation' provision will actually work

"Most people have an opinion on these matters. I would encourage anyone to just listen to the details of this case. "

- Professor Ruth Hall, Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) - UWC

"I think it makes a very good argument for being a situation in which public interest in access to land, particularly for homeless people, could outweigh the interests of a private owner."

- Professor Ruth Hall, Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) - UWC

Hall explains that the piece of land in question has never been bought at market price - a fact that forms the basis of one of the Metro's key arguments:

"Like many rural properties, it was demarcated in the 1880s and established as a farm under a gentleman called William Knight...We can see a direct line that it's been held by a mining company and its subsidiary since 1880."

- Professor Ruth Hall, Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) - UWC

"A key argument...is that it is vacant, there has been no active land use on this land, it has never been transacted through the market."

- Professor Ruth Hall, Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) - UWC

Hall says the city's housing backlog is growing and the Ekurhuleni Metro argues that the owners bought the land purely for speculative reasons. 

The case is scheduled for mediation in October, and a full trial in February next year.

ALSO READ: Expropriation without compensation: How new law ACTUALLY affects landowners