Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Expropriation Act: Final arguments in court case to be heard at later date

Soundbite: Ernst van Zyl (English)

Soundbite: Ernst van Zyl (Afrikaans)

The court case brought by AfriForum and other applicants to challenge the constitutionality of the Expropriation Act was postponed this afternoon in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town to a later date, as not all legal teams had the opportunity to present their arguments. Numerous applicants and respondents are involved in this matter. AfriForum, one of the applicants, had the opportunity to present its case on the first and second days of the hearing this week. The organisation’s legal team has yet to deliver its reply, while three respondents and three friends of the court still need to present their arguments, and the applicants must also be given the chance to reply before the case can conclude.

AfriForum’s core argument in this case is that Sections 12(3), 12(4), and 19(8) of the Expropriation Act should be scrapped and Section 19(2) amended due to its unconstitutionality.

The organisation argues that Sections 12(3) and 12(4), which permit expropriation without compensation, contravene Section 25 of the Constitution. Furthermore, Sections 19(2) and 19(3) allow for expropriation before compensation has been agreed upon or determined by a court. In his answering affidavit of October last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa already acknowledged that these sections of the act are unconstitutional. AfriForum also argues that Section 19(8) of the act should be scrapped, as it permits expropriation regardless of whether an appeal against the expropriation has been lodged.

According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, the uncertainty regarding property rights – which he claims has been stoked by the ANC – continues to inflict significant damage on the country’s economy while the protracted legal process drags on.

“Barely ten days after President Ramaphosa announced that he had signed the Expropriation Act, the US announced that it would act against South Africa due to the government’s disregard for property rights. As long as there is a law enabling expropriation without compensation, investors from other countries, who may be less vocal, will also be hesitant to invest in South Africa,” Kriel warns.

Ernst van Zyl, AfriForum’s Head of Public Relations, believes the organisation’s senior legal team performed excellently over the past week in highlighting the unconstitutionality of the Expropriation Act. “Our top-tier legal team’s arguments in this case were bulletproof and watertight; our legal team could not have done more,” Van Zyl concludes.

AfriForum will communicate the dates for the resumption of the case as soon as they are announced.

AfriForum_First Applicant’s Heads of Argument 2026-06-1_260802_120131 Download