The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwintini has now announced that he is going to introduce a new law to ban foreigners from buying land in South Africa.  The good news, and there is always allegedly good news with these strange laws that they seem to be coming up with, is that they will not expropriate land already owned by foreigners!  It is worrying that they even had to think about that aspect and announce it – surely it would be foregone conclusion that they would not expropriate the land?  

Apparently, at a media conference, he said they might have “difficulties” making the law retrospective – which is really an understatement of our law, but that the ANC was clear that it is going to implement a resolution that in future foreigners can only lease land but not actually own it.  One wonders what that is going to do for the housing market in certain areas, especially around Cape Town, and no doubt houses in Clifton, Camps Bay and the like are going to go for much less in future as are game farms and wine farms because all but the most wealthy South Africans cannot afford those purchases.  Why they need to bring in such legislation one cannot imagine – apparently statistics show that foreigners only own 3% of the country’s land anyway.