President Cyril Ramaphosa has used the occasion of the visit of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to reassure foreign investors that chaotic land grabs will not form a part of proposed land reforms.

Parliament’s joint constitutional review committee last week resolved to officially recommend that the constitution be amended to allow the explicit use of expropriation in an attempt to redress inequality in land ownership.

That moved has sparked anxiety and was cited as a concern for investors in an IMF report this week.

During a joint media briefing at Tuynhuys in Cape Town Ramaphosa insisted that the issue of land reform needed to be addressed but assured the German president and press that this would be carried out in an orderly and lawful manner.

Ramaphosa said:

“There will be no land grabs. Investors should have no fear. “We cannot invite people to come and invest and then take their investments. It is like inviting a guest to your home and then rob them of their possessions. We cannot do that. “Investors should know that their investments will be secure. We are [working on] a land reform process so that we can have more stability. The more stability we have, the more everybody’s interest is safe guarded including everybody’s investment.”

Germany ranks as South Africa’s third-largest trading partner and German companies maintain subsidiaries or production plants in the country that sustain 100,000 jobs.

Steinmeier was positive about the relationship with South Africa and Ramaphosa hopes that trade between the two nations will continue to expand.

“We agreed to continue our efforts to further expand trade and investment between SA and Germany,” Ramaphosa said. “This provides a firm foundation to grow our economic relationship in line with our effort to significantly increase investment in the country and, as part of the Jobs Summit agreements, to develop our export capacity.”

The German president said that the State Capture hearings were being perceived in a positive light in Europe and that investors will be pleased to see the independence of South Africa’s judiciary getting a boost.

“We’re visiting you at a time when interest in SA is awakening again. We’re following the new developments in SA with great interest. We’re following your new policies, your efforts to strengthen the independence of the judiciary by creating transparency; also your efforts to fight corruption. “We’re following very closely the governmental institutions’ efforts [to fight] what is called state capture in SA. They are a very important signal to the international community, a signal that is very well received in Germany,” said Steinmeier.

Steinmeier said that German business could help South Africa with strategic investments aimed at improving employment prospects for young South Africans.

“The country needs prospects in the labor market for its young, ambitious population. That also requires investment,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Times. “We want to make a contribution in this area.”

The largely ceremonial head of State has been accompanied on this trip by a group of German business leaders including representatives of tech giant Siemens and state-owned development bank KfW.