Cape Town - Following President Jacob Zuma's announcement of the land holdings bill, a new proposed law that will prohibit foreign ownership of land in the country, in the State of the Nation address on Thursday, the Presidency has issued a statement to explain what this would involve and why.
Once the bill is assented to by the president, foreign nationals can only be entitled to long term leasing of land with a minimum of 30 years and will not be allowed to buy land in South Africa.
The bill will also regulate the amount of land that any individual can own, the limit being 12 000 hectares- an approximate equivalent of two farms. If any single individual owns above that limit, the government would buy the excess land and redistribute it.