South Africa's ANC proposes land expropriation without compensation

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma gestures during the last day of the six-day meeting of the African National Congress 5th National Policy Conference at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto, South Africa, July 5, 2017. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling African National Congress has proposed at its policy conference that land expropriation without compensation should be allowed where it is "necessary and unavoidable", President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday. Land will be a key issue ahead of a December conference where a successor to Zuma will be chosen. The two current frontrunners are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former African Union chair and Zuma's ex-wife. Dlamini-Zuma has made land redistribution from whites to blacks without compensation one of her main policies. (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Mfuneko Toyana; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by James Macharia)