Jeffery pointed to the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill, the Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill and the Property Valuation Bill, among others.
She said in a statement that these new acts greatly increased the state’s interventionist powers and “clearly put the redistribution of the existing economic pie well before endeavours to expand it”.
Jeffery said the NDP was supposed to help boost economic growth and generate jobs.
“It’s also supposed to be SA’s over-riding policy blueprint from now until 2030, having been endorsed by the cabinet in August 2012 and by the ANC’s Mangaung conference in December that year.”
However, neither growth nor jobs were likely to be forthcoming in the face of these measures, which ranged from new employment equity and BEE rules to legislation affecting land, mining, oil, the security industry, and investors in general, said Jeffery.
One of the common factors in the new legislative measures was the way they threatened property rights, as they included the re-opening of land claims, giving a Valuer-General the power to decide the value of property targeted for land reform and making it possible for the state to avoid paying compensation altogether if it took land or other property, not as owner, but rather as ‘custodian’ for the disadvantaged.
According to the paper entitled ‘Final Policy Proposals for Strengthening the Relative Rights of People Working the Land’ recently published by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Jeffery told Farmer’s Weekly, the farmer (the historical owner of the land) will “automatically retain 50% of the land” but their farm workers will “assume ownership” of the remaining 50%.
“This wording is vague, but the state could indeed resort to expropriation to ensure some kind of transfer of ownership takes place,” said Jeffery.
Other common denominators in the new legislation were that they reduced private sector autonomy, increased policy uncertainty and undermined investor confidence. “In combination, they seem calculated to choke off investment, reduce economic growth, and worsen unemployment,” said Jeffery.
