The Case of South Africa
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” ~ Peter Drucker
“We are looking ahead, as is one of the first mandates given us as chiefs, to make sure and to make every decision that we make relate to the welfare and well-being of the seventh generation to come… what about the seventh generation? Where are you taking them? What will they have?” ~ Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Tribe, Seneca Nation, Iroquois Confederacy
How does a lake make reparations for drowning a child? And this, after decades have passed when everyone else has moved on with their lives, had children, and grandchildren. And this, after the original waters have dissipated into the atmosphere to condense as clouds, then rain on some far off, disparate plain. How do you ask the lake to make amends? How then does a lake apologize for drowning a child?
This is the sort of question facing South Africa at the moment. Some South Africans have lived long enough to remember when farms were taken from their parents and grandparents by the state in the early 20th century. The Natives Land Act stripped land rights from indigenous people of African heritage. Their land was expropriated to Afrikaaners, European colonialists who had settled in the region and established political and economic power. How does a nation amend for sins committed a century ago?
Today, post-apartheid South Africa is considering expropriating some of these lands from white South African descendants. These are wealthy families whose prosperity is a directly tied to lands stolen a century ago. This farmland was stolen by individuals long since dead from individuals who are also long since dead. But that’s not what I want to talk about.
A Dangerous Precedent
Under the current South African constitution, lands cannot be expropriated without just compensation. Just compensation is arrived at by court process and requires time to consider. By mandating financial cost to acquire private property, just compensation ensures that the state does not acquire private property extraneously. However, efforts are being made to remove the “just compensation” requirement to expedite the redistribution of previously stolen lands. Some proponents argue that it would be wrong to compensate the descendants of those who stole lands in the first place; therefore, (they say) it is appropriate to remove the “just compensation” requirement. Whether to expedite transfer or avoid enriching supposed generational thieves, this would set a dangerous precedent.
The problem is that the law would merely remove the “just compensation” requirement and leave the language which permits the South African government to take ownership of privately held lands. One defense of removing the “just compensation” requirement from Section 25 of the constitution is that the government might not ever use expropriation measures. Another is that the government privilege to expropriate lands without just compensation would never be used for anything other than correcting this particular crime. But such specificity won’t be incorporated into the amendment. Imagine in seven generations when no one is alive to remember why this law was amended in such a way.
Today, such a law might be used in an attempt to correct the sins of the past. But tomorrow, when new leaders with new perspectives on sins of the past wield this power- what then?
If these powers are made expedient and uncostly now, then who might use them tomorrow, and how might they use these powers? Ultimately, the cost is paid from somewhere. If not from financial coffers, then South Africa will pay from social or cultural cache and those resources are much more difficult to replenish.
“In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the past and present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground– the unborn future of the Nation.” ~ The Constitution of the Iroquois Nations: The Great Binding Law