S. Africa will not expropriate foreign investment during land reform: president

CAPE TOWN, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing "expropriation without compensation" land reform in South Africa is no threat to foreign investors and their investments will not be taken away, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.

"The process we are working on is through the Constitutional amendment and a bill. We are going to do everything within the rule of law and within our Constitution and all that will follow its own time," the president said while answering questions in Parliament.

Since taking power last year, Ramaphosa, who is also president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), has facilitated the process of expropriating land without compensation, raising concerns among foreign investors.

The measure is to correct historical injustice, Ramaphosa said, adding that his country can not expropriate foreign investment while trying to attract more investors.

In response to disputes over the controversial policy, Ramaphosa has repeatedly said it will enhance, rather than undermine, property rights as his government seeks to address what it has termed "the original sin committed against black South Africans during colonial and apartheid days."

During the Apartheid millions among the black majority in the country were

dispossessed of their land by a white minority.

The land reform policy, one of the top priorities of government work in South Africa in recent years, aims to redistribute land so as to reduce inequality and allow previously unemployed people to participate in the economy.