President Cyril Ramaphosa sued over Expropriation Act

The civil rights organisation AfriForum filed a court application in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to challenge the constitutionality of the controversial Expropriation Act.

The respondents include President Cyril Ramaphosa, Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson, the National Assembly Speaker, and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.

AfriForum argues that the Expropriation Act, which Ramaphosa signed into law on 20 December 2024, contains serious flaws.

The organisation argues that the Expropriation Act threatens South Africans’ constitutional right to private property.

“Sections and provisions of the act contain inherent contradictions, which is why the court should declare the act unconstitutional,” AfriForum said.

Alternatively, AfriForum seeks an order declaring those specific provisions in the Act unconstitutional.

Central to AfriForum’s arguments is Section 12(3) of the Act, which provides for the expropriation of property at nil compensation.

“It opens the possibility of abuse of public power where every expropriating authority, including mismanaged local authorities, is given the power to expropriate at nil compensation,” it said.

A further flaw is that the Act allows a property owner to be deprived of their property while the matter of its expropriation is fought over in court. This process can take many years.

AfriForum’s head of public relations, Ernst van Zyl, said the ANC’s top brass has emphasised that the Expropriation Act intends to enable expropriation without compensation.

“We assured our members and the public at the beginning of the year that we would fight this dangerous Act both domestically and internationally,” he said.

“The spotlight that US President Donald Trump has so far placed on the threat this Act poses to private property rights in South Africa is a welcome development.”

He said AfriForum’s court case, which will test the constitutionality of this Act, is their most important local battle in this fight.

The DA also fighting the Expropriation Act

AfriForum’s legal action against the Expropriation Act followed three months after the DA filed papers in the Western Cape High Court.

The DA said it was challenging the Expropriation Act because it is unconstitutional, both substantively and procedurally.

“We reject this Act, because we believe that no government in a democratic country should be given such sweeping powers to expropriate property without compensation,” the DA said.

“We have not forgotten that the previous government used similar powers to forcibly remove communities from their land, often with inadequate compensation or none at all.”

“This history teaches us that proper redress requires protecting property rights, ensuring that no government is ever given unchecked expropriation powers ever again.”

The DA stated that Ramaphosa signed the Act into law despite the advice of Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson.

“Macpherson provided the president with a legal opinion that there were issues with the Bill that rendered it unconstitutional,” the DA said.

The DA’s challenge to the Act is both substantive and procedural, and includes:

• ⁠The process of adopting the Act did not conform to the Constitution.

• The Act is vague and contradictory in several clauses, which renders it unconstitutional.

The DA requested that the Western Cape High Court issue an order nullifying the Expropriation Act in its current form.

Apart from legal shortcomings, the DA also opposed the Act’s substance, which includes expropriation without compensation as an instrument of law.