SOUTH AFRICAN trade unions welcomed a new land reform law yesterday which allows expropriation to reverse centuries of colonialism.

The African National Congress-dominated parliament in Cape Town passed the Expropriation Bill on Thursday, replacing the apartheid-era 1975 Act of the same name.

The legislation replaces the “willing buyer-willing seller” principle of land redistribution with the “just and equitable” principle of the 1994 post-apartheid constitution.

Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) spokesman Sizwe Pamla praised the new law, saying it would address “the legacies of apartheid and colonialism.”

Redistribution of land from largely white ownership to black farmers, businesspeople and homeowners has been slow over the past 22 years of democratic rule.

Landowners will be compensated except where the land was acquired through unlawful means or used for illegal purposes.

“These are all provisions provided for in our democratic constitution but where government has been blocked from providing to the people because of resistance to transformation,” Mr Pamla said.

Cosatu also condemned “hysterical attacks” on the legislation by the Free Market Foundation (FMF), South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) and opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party.

“The SAIRR, FMF and DA clearly miss and are nostalgic for an era where this country belonged to a minority and the majority was treated as second-class citizens,” Mr Pamla said.

The DA has consistently opposed the ANC’s efforts to transform post-apartheid society through the courts where it has failed in parliament.