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Transnational Thursday for January 23, 2025

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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BBC article

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law a bill allowing land seizures by the state without compensation—a move that has put him at odds with some members of his government.

[The law] replaces the pre-democratic Expropriation Act of 1975, which placed an obligation on the state to pay owners it wanted to take land from, under the principle of "willing seller, willing buyer".

The new law allows for expropriation without compensation only in circumstances where it is "just and equitable and in the public interest" to do so. This includes if the property is not being used and there's no intention to either develop or make money from it or when it poses a risk to people.