The South African government has started the controversial process of seizing farms owned by white people after talks with the owners to buy the properties collapsed, local newspaper City Press reports.

The South African ruling African National Congress announced in late July it would push ahead with plans to amend the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation following a promise by President Cyril Ramaphosa to see “the return of the land to the people from whom it was taken … to heal the divisions of the past.”

“The expropriation of land without compensation is envisaged as one of the measures that we will use to accelerate redistribution of land to black South Africans,” Ramaphosa said in February.

He went on to promise, “We will handle it in a way that is not going to damage our economy.”

The proposal was first adopted in December by the ANC.

Two game farmers in Limpopo province are being targeted for seizure, per the City Press, after the owners wouldn’t agree to one-tenth of their asking price. The owners obtained an injunction to hold off eviction until a court had ruled on the case, but the application was opposed by the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs.

The ANC in May said the seizures would “test the argument” that land redistribution without compensation is permitted under current laws, which it has previously stated is allowable if “in the public interest.”

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