Compensation as Radical Transformation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2024/v27i0a16796Keywords:
Expropriation, compensation, section 25, Agri SA case, Froneman, compensation in kind, radical change, nil compensation, conflict, sacrifice and tragedyAbstract
This paper draws on the concurring judgment of Froneman J in Agri SA to articulate a "new and fresh approach" to the power to expropriate and duty to compensate in section 25 of the Constitution. In Agri SA, the Constitutional Court had to consider whether the provisions in the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) expropriated property and, if so, what form of compensation was required as a result. The answers that Froneman J provides, rooted in his conception of "compensation in kind", offer a framework to enable rational, purposive and wide-ranging transformation of property through legislation. Work, though, is needed to clarify the structure and implications of his approach. This paper provides that clarity.
After an introduction, Part 2 unpacks the transformative, i.e., radical, nature of the change effected by the MPRDA, distinguishing it from reform. Armed with this distinction, it is argued that Froneman J's concepts of expropriation and compensation are rooted in a practical concern for: (a) the good and bad forms of being that Parliament wanted to facilitate and frustrate by way of the MPRDA; (b) the relations constitutive of these forms; and (c) the property that is needed to facilitate or frustrate the relations and forms. Part 3 clarifies the nature of Froneman's approach, by focusing on s 25(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, demonstrating that the factors it lists are concerned with maximally facilitating old and new goods, whilst always conscious of the fact that transformation by nature cannot avoid the need to sacrifice some goods for the sake of others. Part 4 offers some concluding thoughts.
Downloads
References
Bibliography
Literature
Ackermann LWH "The Legal Nature of the South African Constitutional Revolution" 2004 NZ L Rev 633-679
Adorno T and Horkheimer M Dialectic of Enlightenment (translated by J Cumming) (Verso London 1997)
Arendt H (with Canovan M and Allen D) The Human Condition 2nd ed (University of Chicago Press Chicago 2018)
Baron JB "Contested Commitments of Property" 2010 Hastings LJ 917-967
Benjamin W "Theses on the Philosophy of History" in Arendt H (ed) (translated by H Zohn) Illuminations: Essays and Reflections (New York Schocken Books 1969)
Berlin I Liberty (edited by H Hardy) (Oxford University Press Oxford 2002)
Dagan H A Liberal Theory of Property (Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2021)
De Vos P "A Bridge too Far? History as Context in the Interpretation of the South African Constitution" 2001 SAJHR 1-33
Dugard J "Unpacking Section 25: What, if Any, are the Legal Barriers to Transformative Land Reform?" 2019 CCR 135-160
Du Plessis WJ Compensation for Expropriation under the Constitution (LLD-thesis University of Stellenbosch 2009)
Du Plessis Q "A Hohfeldian Analysis of the Bill of Rights" 2022 SALJ 577-622
Gardner J From Personal Life to Private Law (Oxford University Press Oxford 2018)
Hamilton L The Political Philosophy of Needs (Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2003)
Hohfeld WN Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning and Other Legal Essays (Yale University Press New Haven 1923)
Liebenberg S "Needs, Rights and Transformation: Adjudicating Social Rights" 2006 Stell LR 5-36
Luxemburg R Writings of Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution, the National Question, and Other Essays (Red and Black Publishers St Petersburg 2010)
Ngcukaitobi T Land Matters: South Africa's Failed Land Reforms and the Road Ahead (Penguin Random House Cape Town 2021)
Marx K Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Volume I (translated by Fowkes B) (Penguin Books London 1976)
Marx K Critique of Hegel's "Philosophy of Right" (edited by O'Malley J) (Cambridge University Press Cambridge 1970)
Pieterse M "What Do We Mean When We Talk about Transformative Constitutionalism?" 2005 SAPL 155-166
Raz J The Morality of Freedom (Oxford University Press Oxford 1988)
Roux T "Property" in Woolman S and Bishop M (eds) Constitutional Law of South Africa 2nd ed (Juta Cape Town 2013) ch 46
Sen A Development as Freedom (Anchor New York 2000)
Shandu M and Clark M "Rethinking Property: Towards a Value-Based Approach to Property Relations in South Africa" 2021 CCR 1-40
Singer JW Entitlement: The Paradoxes of Property (Yale University Press New Haven 2000)
Southwood MD The Compulsory Acquisition of Rights (Juta Cape Town 2000)
Van der Walt AJ Constitutional Property Law (Juta Cape Town 2011)
Van der Walt AJ Property in the Margins (Hart Oxford 2009)
Van der Walt AJ "Reconciling the State's Duties to Promote Land Reform and to Pay 'Just and Equitable' Compensation for Expropriation" (2006) SALJ 23-40
Van der Walt AJ and Viljoen S "The Constitutional Mandate for Social Welfare – Systemic Differences and Links between Property, Land Rights and Housing Rights" 2015 PELJ 1034-1090
Van der Walt J Law and Sacrifice (Wits University Press Johannesburg 2005)
Van Wyk J "Compensation for Land Reform Expropriation" 2017 TSAR 21-35
Walzer W Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality (Basic Books New York 1983)
Wenar L "The Nature of Rights" 2005 Philosophy and Public Affairs 223-253
Zimmerman J "Property on the Line: Is an Expropriation-Centered Land Reform Constitutionally Permissible?" 2005 SALJ 378-418
Case law
Agri SA v Minister for Minerals and Energy 2013 4 SA 1 (CC)
Bengwenyama Minerals (Pty) Ltd v Genorah Resources (Pty) Ltd 2011 4 SA 113 (CC)
Daniels v Scribante 2017 4 SA 341 (CC)
Du Toit v Minister of Transport 2006 1 SA 297 (CC)
First National Bank of SA Ltd t/a Wesbank v Commissioner, South African Revenue Service 2002 4 SA 768 (CC)
Florence v Government of the Republic of South Africa 2014 6 SA 456 (CC)
Haffejee v Ethekwini Municipality 2011 6 SA 134 (CC)
Harksen v Lane 1998 1 SA 300 (CC)
Holcim (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd v Prudent Investors (Pty) Ltd 2011 1 All SA 364 (SCA)
MEC for Education: Kwazulu-Natal v Pillay 2008 1 SA 474 (CC)
Midi Television (Pty) Ltd t/a E-TV v Director of Public Prosecutions (Western Cape) 2007 5 SA 540 (SCA)
Mkontwana v Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality 2005 1 SA 530 (CC)
Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers 2005 1 SA 217 (CC)
Reflect-All 1025 CC v MEC for Public Transport, Roads and Works, Gauteng Provincial Government 2009 6 SA 391 (CC)
Shoprite Checkers (Pty) Ltd v MEC for Economic Development, Eastern Cape 2015 6 SA 125 (CC)
Trencon Construction (Pty) Ltd v Industrial Development Corporation of SA Ltd 2015 5 SA 245 (CC)
Tshwane City v Link Africa 2015 6 SA 440 (CC)
Uys v Msiza 2018 3 SA 440 (SCA)
Legislation
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997
Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002
Political Party Funding Act 6 of 2018
Internet sources
General Council of the Bar of South Africa Date unknown Uniform Rules of Professional Conduct https://gcbsa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GCB%20Uniform%20Rules%20of%20Ethics%20updated%202017%20AGM.pdf accessed 26 March 2023
Ngcukaitobi T and Bishop M 2018 The Constitutionality of Expropriation without Compensation https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/commerce-law-and-management/law/documents/constitutional-court-review-program/Ngcukaitobi%20Bishop%20Article%20(FINAL).docx accessed 17 October 2023
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Matthew Kruger
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
.png){kind=spacer}