Expropriation of land without compensation should be used by government to revive the South African economy and create a rural middle class.

This is according to agricultural economist Mandivamba Rukuni of the University of Zimbabwe who participated in policy discussions held by the National African Farmer Union of SA (Nafu SA) yesterday.

Rukuni told Sowetan on the sidelines that expropriation of land could revive the economy, which is struggling to grow and create jobs.

But this, he said, had to be done with proper projections of the desired economic growth and the number of new farmers that government wants to bring to the market.