Opponents of a controversial South African land expropriation bill are calling the legislation a threat to private ownership after it was endorsed by the country's president.

Presidency announced in a statement on Thursday that President Cyril Ramaphosa had signed into law the Expropriation Bill, which repeals the pre-democratic Expropriation Act of 1975 and sets out how organs of State may expropriate land in the public interest for varied reasons.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law a bill allowing land seizures by the state without compensation - a move that has put him at odds with some members of his government. Black people only own a small fraction of farmland nationwide more than 30 years after the end of the racist system of apartheid - the majority remains with the white minority.