First farm expropriated in South Africa

South Africa has expropriated its first farm in a land reform drive aimed at returning land taken from the black majority under apartheid.

South Africa has expropriated its first farm in a land reform drive aimed at returning land taken from the black majority under apartheid, officials said on Tuesday.

The expropriation took effect on Jan. 26, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights said in a statement.

The farm in the Northern Cape province had belonged to the South African Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has been ordered to sell it for 35.5 million rand ($4.89 million), the commission said.

The land was claimed by a local group including workers on the farm.