JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's two-day jobs summit running to Friday should address "job-destroying’ policies such as the government's plans to amend the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land with compensation, the Institute of Race Relations said on Thursday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has convened the summit as South Africa grapples with stubbornly high unemployment, currently at 27.2 percent of the labour force.

"As the government and other stakeholders sit down to address the employment crisis in South Africa, the job-destroying effects of the current expropriation debate need to feature," IRR analyst Terence Corrigan said.

"Job creation requires economic growth but growth requires investment. South Africa is not going to attract much by way of foreign or domestic fixed investment as long as the uncertainty lingers that the state may have the power to seize property without paying for it."

"In this respect, far from helping to empower people, the current expropriation debate is having the opposite effect," Corrigan added.