# Is South Africa about to follow Zimbabwe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590 "2017-03-06T23:11:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/1 "2017-03-06T23:11:56Z")
Jacob Zuma, the South African president, is mooting [land seizure](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-05/its-declaration-war-south-africas-president-calls-confiscation-white-land). White lands, of course. And we all know how well that worked in Zimbabwe. I wouldn’t want to be a white person in South Africa today. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/2 "2017-03-07T00:02:32Z")
Do you have a cite that [hasn’t been accused of being an alt-market, pro-Russian website run by a disgraced Bulgarian financier who let his friends all post under a single pseudonym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge)? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/3 "2017-03-07T00:03:37Z")
What the hell does “mooting” mean? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/4 "2017-03-07T00:06:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > What the hell does “mooting” mean? I think he meant “mooing.” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/5 "2017-03-07T00:06:45Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Do you have a cite that [hasn’t been accused of being an alt-market, pro-Russian website run by a disgraced Bulgarian financier who let his friends all post under a single pseudonym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge)? > **[Jacob Zuma calls for confiscation of white land without compensation ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/03/jacob-zuma-calls-confiscation-white-land-without-compensation/)** > > President Jacob Zuma has called on parliament to change South Africa’s constitution to allow the expropriation of white owned land without compensation. > **[South African President Calls For Confiscating White-Owned Land](https://dailycaller.com/2017/03/04/south-african-president-calls-for-confiscating-white-owned-land/)** > > 'People of South Africa, where you see a beautiful land, take it, it belongs to you' [http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFL8N1G92WK](http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFL8N1G92WK) etc etc ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/6 "2017-03-07T00:14:06Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > What the hell does “mooting” mean? See the first verb [definition](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mooting). ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/7 "2017-03-07T00:17:09Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > [Jacob Zuma calls for confiscation of white land without compensation ](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/03/jacob-zuma-calls-confiscation-white-land-without-compensation/) > > [South African President Calls For Confiscating White-Owned Land | The Daily Caller](http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/04/south-african-president-calls-for-confiscating-white-owned-land/) > > [http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFL8N1G92WK](http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFL8N1G92WK) > > etc etc No need to ‘etc etc’ me, I’m not the one who reposted from a sketchy website w/ racist commenters and then treated the Zimbabwe connection as an exercise for the reader. Will grabbing land back from the people who have the most money be a hindrance to South Africans and their quality of life? Possibly, but maybe they’ll see the pains Zimbabwe went through and move forward differently. Should they do it in an effort to right old wrongs from the colonial wars? That’s a much bigger question w/ no ethical easy answers. ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/8 "2017-03-07T04:55:05Z")
No. (FWIW, white South African here) Property rights are enshrined in the Bill of Rights section of the Constitution and they are by design tough to amend, although other sections of the Constitution have been amended. (Do note that unlike the American constitution, the SA constitution is a fairly lengthy document.) Said property rights do not require a willing seller-willing buyer nor do they require the fair market value to be paid. However, compensation for expropriation must be paid and sets out criteria to be considered when determining the amount of compensation. Despite Zuma’s machinations, the courts, including the apex Constitutional Court, remain fiercely independent and the Bill will not pass constitutional muster in its current form. (if anythings unclear, its 6 in the morning and coffee is still brewing…) ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/9 "2017-03-07T04:59:52Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Should they do it in an effort to right old wrongs from the **colonial wars?** What does this mean? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-south-africa-about-to-follow-zimbabwe/781590/10 "2017-03-07T12:56:19Z")
> [@WilyQuixote](#): > > What does this mean? Take land from the Afrikaners and give it to the English, maybe??