South Africa's Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, has said foreign nationals who legally own property in the country are free to sell their assets before departing.
Ntshavheni, however, clarified that only formally registered properties carry any protection under South African law.
Addressing the issue, she drew a firm line between legal and informal ownership.
"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," she said.
The minister was equally unambiguous about informal settlements, stating that shacks and squatter camps do not qualify as legal property and would attract no government compensation.
"Informal squatter camps and informal settlements are never properties because they are illegal in the country.
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"So you are already violating our law if you're going to tell us about a shack in some informal settlement," she said.
She added that evictions of informal settlements would proceed in line with existing court judgments, with no new informal structures permitted in cleared areas.
Ntshavheni also used the occasion to call for information on locations allegedly being used for drug-related activities.
"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 said.
On the question of departing foreign property owners, she confirmed: "Those who leave their properties, if they are properly, legally registered in the country, they can dispose of the properties in the property market in South Africa."
No government compensation, however, would be forthcoming for those leaving behind unregistered or illegal structures.
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