South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress, announced last week that it’s going ahead with amending the Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation. The move is seen by some as a threat to property rights in the country. But, Steven Friedman argues, the constitutional amendment is unlikely to introduce a radically different approach. Rather, it’s likely to clarify the Constitution’s current provisions on land expropriation. In separate articles, Pierre de Vos explains the intricacies of changing the country’s Constitution while Joana Bezerra sets out what’s wrong with the current system of settling land claims in conservation areas.