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Estate agents: ban on sale of land to foreigners could scare off investors   Article Date :29 Jul 2005 Comments on proposed moratorium on the sale of land to foreigners. The ANC's proposed moratorium on the sale of land to foreigners may scare potential investors away, says the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa. Professor Ben Cousins, director at the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies, based at the University of the Western Cape, shares this view. He adds this would not be a solution to equitable land redistribution. This follows the ANC's resolution over the weekend at its national general council in Pretoria, that apart from the moratorium, the government should also investigate the inaccessibility of prime land because of high prices, and regulate prices. But Bill Rawson of the estate agents' institute said he believed the issue of land ownership by foreigners was "exaggerated". He said such considerations would scare foreign capital away - potential investors would question the logic of investing in a country that prohibited their buying property. Rawson said the institute's main concern was that South Africa had no reliable data showing that foreign land ownership impacted negatively on the country's economy or government's efforts to redistribute land. However, he said a recent study showed foreign land ownership in South Africa amounted to an insignificant proportion of 0.17% of this country's land. Cousins echoed Rawson's concerns saying: "It's a bit too hasty for a moratorium. We'd support a more serious investigation into the issue because any hasty action might send a wrong signal to foreign investors that they are not wanted." He said the talk about foreign land ownership diverted attention from real shortcomings such as the government's "willing seller and willing buyer approach which has slowed the pace of land redistribution". But Clive Ashpol of the Estate Agency Affairs Board said the board supported an investigation to look at the issue because some foreign land owners in South Africa were absentee landlords therefore economically inactive, which discouraged job creation. He said other country's such as Canada, Thailand and Austria had also banned selling land to foreigners. He said these were often not significant economic investments but merely people wanting to own property in "holiday areas". PAC President Motsoko Pheko said his party was against selling land to foreigners because black South Africans were still landless. "You shouldn't sell land to foreigners when your own people have no place to sleep ..." said Pheko. The DA also raised its eyebrows over the ANC's resolution and warned the ruling party not to make the constitution a victim of its own failures. CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE MAIN NEWS PAGE