Bill Clinton urges government to pick ‘low lying fruit’ before expropriating land
Former US President Bill Clinton has advised the South African government to pick ‘the low hanging fruit’ before deciding to expropriate land without compensation.
Clinton addressed the Discovery Leadership Summit in Sandton on Thursday.
He addressed the summit alongside his wife former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“The issue (of land expropriation) should be put on the backburner and exhaust all other alternatives to quickly put the land that is available in other ways, into the hands of people who do not have it now and want to have it. For all these tough problems, I am all for picking the low hanging fruit,” he said.
While Clinton made it clear that he was in support of land reform, he emphasised that this should not be done in a way that would compromise the country’s reputation.
“Maximise the amount of land that you can move within a hurry, let people see that you are doing it without expropriation and you will see that all other things will start opening up."
The thorny issue of land expropriation has been spoken widely about, both locally and internationally.
The issue has caused a lot of uncertainty within the stock markets, making investors wary.
President Cyril Ramaphosa also made it clear that land expropriation would be done in an orderly way.