Montfort Mlachila, the IMF's senior resident representative in South Africa, said that the regulation must not damage agricultural output and put at risk food supplies for the country's citizens.

"We are in full support of the need to undertake land reforms in order to address the issues of inequality," Mlachila said in an interview with Reuters.

There is need to have a transparent, rules-based, and constitutional process that leads to desirable outcomes. It is particularly important not to undermine agricultural production and food security."

The widely debated land reform was proposed by the country's ruling African National Congress (ANC) in 2015, and received full support of the newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa. The proposed measure will allow the South African government to expropriate land belonging to the country's white farmers without compensation.

A major part of South African farmlands is still owned by the country's white minority. The current president vowed to change the South African constitution to grant some of the land to the landless black majority.