Expropriation: A Comparative Study of the Jurisprudence of Namibia, Ghana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Date: 16 August 2019
• Author: Samuel Amoo
• Pages: 75-97
• Published date: 16 August 2019

EXPROPRIATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF

THE JURISPRUDENCE OF NAMIBIA, GHANA,

SOUTH AFRICA, ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE

SAMUELAMOO

Professor of Law,Faculty of Law, University of Namibia

In a speech marking the formal opening of the Accra Conference on Legal Education and

of the Ghana Law School, the late Dr Kwame Nkrumah emphasised the need for the

identif‌ication of the legal system with the ethos of the society:

‘There is a ringing challenge to African lawyers today. African law in Africa was

declared foreign law for the convenience of colonial administration, which found the

administration of justice cumbersome by reason of the vast variations in local and tribal

custom. African law had to be proved in court by experts, but no law can be foreignto its

own land and country, and African lawyers, particularly in the independent African

states must quickly f‌ind a way to reverse this judicial travesty.

The law must f‌ight its way forward in the general reconstructions of African action and

thought and help to remould the generally distorted African picture in all other f‌ields of

life. This is not an easy task, for African lawyers will have to do effective research into

the basic concepts of African law, clothe such concepts with living reality and give the

African a legal standard upon which African legal history in its various compartments

could be hopefully built up. Law does not operate in a vacuum. Its importance must be

related to the overall importance of the people, that is to say,the state.’

1

Keywords: Expropriation, land reform, doctrine of eminent domain,

exercise of state power, fundamental rights

[Dans un discours marquant l’ouverture off‌icielle de la conférence deAccra sur l’éducation

juridique et de l’école de droit du Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah a souligné la nécessité qu’un

système juridique s’identif‌ie avec la philosophie de la société.

‘Ilyaungrand déf‌i pour les juristes africains aujourd’hui. Le droit africain a été

déclarée droit étranger en Afrique pour la commodité de l’administration coloniale, qui

a trouvé l’administration de la justice très lourdeen raison des vastes dif férencesentre les

coutumes locales et tribales. Le droit africain devait être prouvéen cour par des experts,

mais aucune loi ne peut être étrangère à son propre pays et le pays, et les juristes

africains, en particulier ceux des Etats africains indépendants, doivent trouver

rapidement un moyen d’inverser cette parodie judiciaire.

La loi doit trouver son proprepar cours en vue de la reconstructiongénérale de la vie et de

la pensée africaine, et aider à remodeler l’image africaine généralement déformée dans

tous les autres domaines de la vie. C’est pas une tâche facile, pour les juristes africains

qui devront faire des recherches eff‌icaces dans les concepts de base du droit africain,

confronter ces concepts avec la réalité vivante et donner à l’Afrique un niveaux juridique

sur lequel l’histoire juridique africaine dans ses différents compartiments pourrait être

construite. La loi ne fonctionne pas dans un vide. Son importance doit être liée à

l’importance globale de la population, à savoir,de l’état.’]

1

K Nkrumah ‘Ghana. Law in Africa’(1962) 6 Journal of African Law 105.

75

(2015) 2(2) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 75

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Mots clé: éducation juridique; droit africain; administration coloniale;

coutumes; Etats africains indépendants

Introduction

The article considers and compares the expropriation jurisprudence of

selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in the general domain of land

reform and law reform strategies. Consideration will be given to the

similarities and differences regarding each jurisdiction’s position on the

following issues: the doctrine of eminent domain or public interest; the

procedural mechanisms employed in the process of the exercise of state

power; the protection of the fundamental rights of the individual whose

property is earmarked for expropriation; and the determination of compen-

sation for affected individuals.

Def‌ining expropriation

Expropriation may be def‌ined as the power of the state to compulsorily but

lawfully, and for reasons deemed to be in the public interest, acquire

ownership or some of the powers contained in ownership in respect of

property to the extent that the owner is deprived of the power to use or

alienate his or her property in the manner that he or she may wish to do.

Expropriation constitutes a limitation on the right of ownership.

2

Silberberg

3

def‌ines expropriation as follows.

‘Expropriation in the strict sense means that the owner is deprived of his right of

ownership in his property which then becomes vested in the state or some

other public authority or corporation authorized by the state to acquire

ownership of the property. In the wider sense expropriation includes measures

less than the deprivation of ownership, for instance temporary acquisition of the

thing for a particular purpose . . .’

State sovereignty and the doctrine of eminent domain

One of the essential elements of statehood is the occupation of a territorial

area within which state law operates. Over this area, supreme authority is

vested in the state. Hence there arises the concept of territorial sovereignty,

which signif‌ies that within this territorial domain, jurisdiction is exercised by

the state over persons and property to the exclusion of other states.

4

The power given to the state to expropriate private property in the public

interest is derived from state sovereignty, which vests the control of the

natural resources in the state. Under the doctrine of eminent domain, the

state is given the power to expropriate private property for infrastructural

2

SK Amoo ‘The exercise of the right of sovereignty and the laws of expropria-

tion of Namibia, Sotuh Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe’in Manfred O Hinz et al (eds)

The Constitution at Work:Ten Yearsof Namibian Nationhood (2002) 256–267.

3

DG Kleyn et al Silberberg and Schoeman’s The Law of Property 3 ed (1992) 316.

4

IA Shearer (ed) Starke’s Introduction to International Law 11ed (1994) 144.

JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW IN AFRICA VOL. 2, NO. 2, 201576

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