South Africa has attracted international attention over the last year after President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined plans for land reforms which would allow the Government to unilaterally expropriate land without compensation. Mr Ramaphosa has repeatedly insisted the “stability of the country” would be at stake without the reform despite the outcry of white farmers claiming to be unjustly targeted by the seizure. Brexiteer MP Andrew Bridgen urged Theresa May to speak out against the proposed reforms during a tense PMQs session.
Addressing Mrs May on Wednesday, Mr Bridgen said: “Will she join me and also condemn the South African Parliament who is currently taking powers to seize land from their own citizens, without compensation and solely based on the colour of their skin?
“This is not only wrong, it is also missing putting another African country from a bread basket into a basket case.”
The Prime Minister said she had discussed the proposed land reforms with President Ramaphosa during her visit to South Africa in August, insisting the South African leader had reassured he would not allow “violent and illegal land seizure” to take place.
Mrs May said: “We recognised the concern there is and the need there is for land reform but President Ramaphosa has consistently stated that violent and illegal land seizures will not be tolerated.
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READ MORE: South Africa LAND SEIZURES: ‘Stability of the country is AT STAKE’ says nation’s leader
“He has also consistently said that the process should be orderly, within South African laws, and take into consideration both the social and economic impact.
“We want to see a process that is fair and process that recognises the need to deliver land reform and does that in a way that is fair to all South African citizens.”
White South African farmers still own around 73 percent of the country’s commercial agricultural land despite making up just nine percent of the population.
The ANC, pushed by an insurgent opposition party on the left, has resolved to amend the constitution to explicitly allow land redistribution without compensation. It is a highly contentious move that is working through a parliamentary process.
The proposals would see the introduction of laws allowing the state to expropriate land without compensation “in the national interest”.
And supporters of sweeping land reform insist the state must step in to transfer ownership of some of the land to black farmers more than two decades after the end of apartheid.
Critics fear the move will lead to the sort of disastrous food shortages suffered by neighbouring Zimbabwe following similar law changes.