Nobody from the property-owning South flees into North Korea – there is only one-way traffic.
Nobody from the property-owning South flees into North Korea – there is only one-way traffic. In all these countries, the political class absolutely thrives while the rest of society suffers. This is the ultimate goal of those who push for expropriation without compensation. Expropriation without compensation is a dangerous political ploy that threatens South Africa’s constitutional order and economic stability. Far from addressing historical injustices, it risks entrenching state control and undermining the very property rights essential for a free and prosperous society. The evidence is clear: ordinary South Africans prioritise jobs and services over land reform, and viable alternatives like the Restitution Act and the FMF’s Liberty First proposals offer just, market-based solutions. By rejecting property confiscation and embracing secure private property, South Africa can achieve equity, restore global confidence, and build a future where justice, not political theatre, truly prevails.
potential distributed to deserving South Africans, with landowners owning subsurface resources per the common law ad coelum principle. The difference property rights make Property rights profoundly shape a country’s prosperity. In Cuba and Venezuela, where Marxist-Leninist policies undermine property security, basic goods are scarce, and the diaspora grows involuntary every year. A similar story can be told about Zimbabwe, closer to home. Zimbabweans did not start fleeing into South Africa in the 1980s or ‘90s. It was only after the principle of private property was destroyed in that country in the early 2000s that South Africa was seen as a desirable safe haven. North Korea’s even more strict adherence to socialist imperatives, unlike neighbouring Communist China’s pragmatic embrace of capitalist characteristics, has to be masked with Potemkin villages whenever foreign dignitaries visit.
The difference property rights makes is visible from space. Socialist North Korea shrouded in darkness as capitalist South Korea bustles with economic activity. Photo credit: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center
October 2025 | Issue 141 | Asset Magazine 327
326 Asset Magazine | Issue 141 | October 2025
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