Chapter 2: Bill of Rights
while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
Property
25.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
No one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application,
and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property.
Property may be expropriated only in terms of law of general application—
(a) for a public purpose or in the public interest; and
(b) subject to compensation, the amount of which and the time and manner of
payment of which have either been agreed to by those affected or decided or
approved by a court.
The amount of the compensation and the time and manner of payment must be just
and equitable, reflecting an equitable balance between the public interest and the
interests of those affected, having regard to all relevant circumstances, including—
(a) the current use of the property;
(b) the history of the acquisition and use of the property;
(c) the market value of the property;
(d) the extent of direct state investment and subsidy in the acquisition and
beneficial capital improvement of the property; and
(e) the purpose of the expropriation.
For the purposes of this section—
(a) the public interest includes the nation’s commitment to land reform, and to
reforms to bring about equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources;
and
(b) property is not limited to land.
The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available
resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an
equitable basis.
A person or community whose tenure of land is legally insecure as a result of past
racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled, to the extent provided by an Act
of Parliament, either to tenure which is legally secure or to comparable redress.
A person or community dispossessed of property after 19 June 1913 as a result of
past racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled, to the extent provided by an
Act of Parliament, either to restitution of that property or to equitable redress.
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