
A growing rift has emerged within South Africa’s unity government, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) expressing deep dissatisfaction over a recent government decision.
The DA, the second-largest party in the coalition, criticized President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of a controversial land seizure bill without prior consultation.
The move has strained relations within the government of national unity (GNU), formed after the African National Congress (ANC) lost its long-standing majority in May elections.
DA leader John Steenhuisen made it clear on Tuesday that the party will not tolerate being sidelined. “We will not be reduced to spectators,” he declared, underscoring the DA’s commitment to influencing the country’s economic growth and job creation.
The bill, signed into law last week, allows the government to expropriate land with “nil compensation” under certain conditions, a decision that has sparked considerable backlash. The DA strongly opposes the legislation and is exploring potential legal action.
In defense, the presidency stated that the bill does not permit arbitrary land seizures and emphasizes efforts to reach agreements with landowners before expropriation.
However, critics fear the situation may mirror Zimbabwe’s controversial land grabs, which saw white-owned commercial farms seized without compensation after 1980.
Land ownership remains a sensitive issue in South Africa, with white individuals still owning the majority of farmland more than three decades after apartheid ended.
Though the GNU has brought stability to South Africa, internal conflicts have continued to plague the coalition, including disagreements over education, foreign policy, and local governance.