Civil rights organisation AfriForum has reaffirmed that it will continue to challenge government’s plan to expropriate land as part of its plan for land redistribution and agricultural, human settlement and industrial development.

AfriForum said on Tuesday that it will attend the public hearings in the Limpopo, Northern Cape and Western Cape over the next two weeks and vowed to fight against what it calls a “destructive policy”.

Earlier this month government announced the submission of a new Land Expropriation Bill to Parliament.

The new Bill makes provision for land expropriation without compensation under clause 12(3),(4) which looks at cases where it may be just and equitable to not pay compensation for property expropriation, in the interest of the public.

The amount of compensation will be determined by South African courts.

AfriForum head of policy and action Ernst Roets says government’s ongoing pursuit of expropriation without compensation is incredibly reckless.

“In light of the serious damage that government’s lockdown regulations inflicted on the economy, it is now more important than ever to provide international and local investors with certainty regarding property rights,” he said.

Roets says that the protection of property rights is an important building block for economic recovery and criticised government for disregarding this.