The South African government has responded to concerns over the treatment of foreign nationals and their properties, stating that it will not pay compensation for illegal structures while urging the Nigerian government to provide information on locations allegedly used for drug-related activities.
Speaking on the matter, South African Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said foreign nationals who legally own property in South Africa are free to dispose of their assets before leaving the country, stressing that only properties recognised under the country’s laws are protected.
According to Ntshavheni, all legitimate assets in South Africa are properly documented through official government registration systems.
“If you own a property in South Africa, it’s registered. If it’s a house, it’s registered with the Deeds Register. If you own a car, it’s registered in the NATIS system. If you own a business, it’s registered with the CIPC. If you’re renting offices, they’re registered with landlords.”
The minister also called on the Nigerian government to identify locations allegedly being used for drug-related activities involving Nigerians.
“We’ll be interested to know where the drug dens of Nigerians are so they can show us where they’ve been holding the drugs so that we can clean the drugs in South Africa quite urgently.”
She maintained that informal settlements are illegal under South African law and therefore do not qualify as recognised property.
“Those who had properties in South Africa, those properties are in the law. Informal squatter camps and informal settlements are never properties because they are illegal in the country. So you are already violating our law if you’re going to tell us about a shack in some informal settlement.”
Ntshavheni added that the government would continue removing illegal settlements in line with court rulings and made it clear that no compensation would be paid for demolished illegal structures.
“When we evict and remove informal settlements, there’s no longer going to be informal settlements built in the areas, including the evictions in the informal settlements, in line with our court judgments.”
“There’s no compensation that will come from government.”
She further noted that foreigners with legally registered movable or immovable property remain free to sell their assets through the appropriate legal channels before leaving the country.
