South Africa's president is adamant it won't be following in the footsteps of Zimbabwe.

Its parliament's voted in favour of a new rule allowing white-owned land to be confiscated without compensation.

South African correspondent Jean-Jacques Cornish says the move is very concerning for many landowners.

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He told Mike Hosking that president Cyril Ramaphosa is trying to counter that concern.

"He is saying we will have expropriation of land because there is a call for it within the party, but we are not going to allow it to affect the economy and we are not going to allow it to affect food security."

He says that Ramaphosa is adamant that the country won't follow in the same footsteps as Zimbabwe, which launched a similar policy in the 1980's that is wildly seen as contributing to its third world status.

"In other words, we're not going to take land away from productive farms, which is what happened in Zimbabwe which turned the great basket of the sub continent into the basket case of southern Africa."

LISTEN TO JEAN-JACQEUS CORNISH TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE