Dispossession and Access to Land in South Africa. An African Perspective

Dispossession and Access to Land in South Africa. An African Perspective PDF

Author: Akomaye Yanou

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2009-03-15

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 9956715875

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This book deals with the conceptualization of access to land by the dispossessed in South Africa as a human right. Yanou examines the country's property model in the context of the post apartheid constitutional mandate to redress the skewed land distribution of the past. The book reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the land restitution process as well as the question of the payment of just and equitable compensation for land expropriated for restitution. It also reviews the phenomenon of land invasion and quality of access to land enjoyed by the South African black woman under the present dispensation. Yanou argues that the courts have, on occasions, construed just and equitable compensation generously. This approach has failed to reflect the fact that what is being paid for is land dispossessed from the forebears of indigenous inhabitants. In a South Africa that lost most of its ancestral land during colonialism and apartheid, access to land for the dispossessed should not be equated with the protection of property acquired under apartheid. Getting it right would entail truth and reconciliation with the collective dispossession suffered by South African blacks.

Transnational Land Grabs and Restitution in an Age of the (De-)Militarised New Scramble for Africa: A Pan African Socio-Legal

Transnational Land Grabs and Restitution in an Age of the (De-)Militarised New Scramble for Africa: A Pan African Socio-Legal PDF

Author: V. Warikandwa

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2017-09-26

Total Pages: 575

ISBN-13: 9956763470

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One of the fundamental challenges in deconstructing, rethinking and remaking the world from a Pan African vantage point is that some captives have tended to delight in the warmth of the [imperial] predators mouth. In other words, some captives forget that the imperial predators mouth gets warm because empire is eating and heating up from prey on the continent. (De-)Militarisation, Transnational Land Grabs and Restitution in an Age of the New Scramble for Africa: A Pan African Socio-Legal Perspective is a book that knocks on key aspects relating to land, militarisation, a PostAfrican World Order and a chaotic Post-God World Order, which require critical scholarly and policy attention in the quest to free Africa from centuries-old imperial depredations. The book carefully navigates the imperial entrapments which are designed to focus African attention only on decolonising African minds without also engaging in the [imperially more unsettling] decolonisation of African materialities.

The Promise of Land: Undoing a Century Of Dispossession in South Africa

The Promise of Land: Undoing a Century Of Dispossession in South Africa PDF

Author: Fred; Ntsebeza Hendricks, Lungisile; Helliker Kirk

Publisher: Jacana Media

Published: 2012-09-05

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13: 1431408182

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The starting point for this book is that the current land reform policies in the country fail to take this colonial context of division and exclusion into account. As a result, there is an abiding land crisis in South Africa. The book examines the many dimensions of this crisis in urban areas, commercial farming areas and communal areas. It argues for a fundamental change in approach to move beyond the impasse in both policy and thinking about land. Of particular importance is that social movements have a critical role to play in charting a new course, both in respect of access to land and in influencing broader policy options. Struggles from below are crucial for rethinking purely statist efforts at land reform and the book grapples with the interplay between oppositional campaigns of social movements and the state’s policies and responses. Essentially, the book argues that in South Africa the 1994 transition from apartheid to democracy has not translated into a process of decolonisation. In fact, the very bases of colonialism and apartheid remain intact, since racial inequalities in both access to and ownership of land continue today. With state-driven attempts at land reform having failed to meet even their own targets, a fundamental change in approach is necessary for South Africa to move beyond the deadlock that prevails between the objectives of the policy, and the means for realising them. It is also necessary to question the targets set for land redistribution: Will these really assist in changes for the majority?

Overcoming Historical Injustices

Overcoming Historical Injustices PDF

Author: James L. Gibson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-07-20

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0521517885

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This book investigates the judgements South Africans make about the fairness of their country's past, focusing on historical land dispossessions.

Philosophical Perspectives on Land Reform in Southern Africa

Philosophical Perspectives on Land Reform in Southern Africa PDF

Author: Erasmus Masitera

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-11-27

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 3030497054

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This edited collection explores a variety of philosophical perspectives on land reform in Southern Africa. Presenting an innovative focus on the philosophical themes in land reform, the contributors reflect on traditional African conceptualisations of the land, as well as Western interpretations, introducing specifically Southern African approaches to a wide range of debates. Rooted in questions of colonization and decolonization, the chapters examine what reform ought to do for the people of Africa, providing contemporary reflections on the different racial and cultural facets of the land. Notably, ideas of reconciliation, compensation, justice, development, emancipation, Ubuntu, and empowerment are explored. Vigorous and interdisciplinary in their approach, the fifteen original chapters tackle a range of questions such as: What does land mean in Africa? What ethical considerations are relevant? Which mechanisms should be used in addressing injustice regarding land reform and redistribution? Providing a comprehensive engagement with philosophical and political issues of land reform in Southern Africa, this volume is an invaluable resource to scholars, not only in Africa, but wherever similar questions of land, dispossession, and justice arise.

Land, Memory, Reconstruction, and Justice

Land, Memory, Reconstruction, and Justice PDF

Author: Cherryl Walker

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Published: 2010-06-05

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 0821443542

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Land is a significant and controversial topic in South Africa. Addressing the land claims of those dispossessed in the past has proved to be a demanding, multidimensional process. In many respects the land restitution program that was launched as part of the county’s transition to democracy in 1994 has failed to meet expectations, with ordinary citizens, policymakers, and analysts questioning not only its progress but also its outcomes and parameters. Land, Memory, Reconstruction, and Justice brings together a wealth of topical material and case studies by leading experts in the field who present a rich mix of perspectives from politics, sociology, geography, social anthropology, law, history, and agricultural economics. The collection addresses both the material and the symbolic dimensions of land claims, in rural and urban contexts, and explores the complex intersection of issues confronting the restitution program, from the promotion of livelihoods to questions of rights, identity, and transitional justice. A valuable contribution to the field of land and agrarian studies, both in South Africa and internationally, it is undoubtedly the most comprehensive treatment to date of South Africa’s postapartheid land claims process and will be essential reading for scholars and students of land reform for years to come.

The Promise of Land

The Promise of Land PDF

Author: Fred T. Hendricks

Publisher:

Published: 2013-12-10

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9781431408160

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A century after the 1913 Natives' Land Act, there remains a land crisis in South Africa. How are we to understand the many dimensions of this crisis so that we can realistically move beyond the current inertia? The starting point for this book is that the current land reform policies in the country fail to take this colonial context of division and exclusion into account. This book examines the many dimensions of this crisis in urban areas, commercial farming areas and communal areas.

We Want What's Ours

We Want What's Ours PDF

Author: Bernadette Atuahene

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 0198714637

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Millions of people all over the world have been displaced from their homes and property. Dispossessed individuals and communities often lose more than the physical structures they live in and their material belongings, they are also denied their dignity. These are dignity takings, and land dispossessions occurring in South Africa during colonialism and apartheid are quintessential examples. There have been numerous examples of dignity takings throughout the world, but South Africa stands apart because of its unique remedial efforts. The nation has attempted to move beyond the more common step of providing reparations (compensation for physical losses) to instead facilitating dignity restoration, which is a comprehensive remedy that seeks to restore property while also confronting the underlying dehumanization, infantilization, and political exclusion that enabled the injustice. Dignity restoration is the fusion of reparations with restorative justice. In We Want What's Ours, Bernadette Atuahenes detailed research and interviews with over one hundred and fifty South Africans who participated in the nations land restitution program provide a snapshot of South Africas successes and failures in achieving dignity restoration. We Want What's Ours is globally relevant because dignity takings have happened all around the world and throughout history: the Nazi confiscation of property from Jews during World War II; the Hutu taking of property from Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide; the widespread commandeering of native peoples property across the globe; and Saddam Husseins seizing of property from the Kurds and others in Iraq are but a few examples. When people are deprived of their property and dignity in years to come, the lessons learned in South Africa can help governments, policy makers, scholars, and international institutions make the transition from reparations to the more robust project of dignity restoration.

Land tenure reform in South Africa. A decolonial review

Land tenure reform in South Africa. A decolonial review PDF

Author: Inolofatseng Lekaba

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2020-01-08

Total Pages: 11

ISBN-13: 3346092526

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Essay from the year 2016 in the subject African Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 80%, , language: English, abstract: The historical dispossession of ‘native’ land dates back to the colonial era and was reinforced and exacerbated by the apartheid Natives Land Act of 1913. The enactment of this Act saw the unequitable redistribution of land with black people only being afforded 7% of arable land. More significantly, the Act facilitated the creation of enclaves for the Black majority with the restriction on land ownership and socio-economic mobility (South African History Online, 2013). Hence, the democratic government from the year 1994 was faced with the monumental task of redressing this imbalance in land ownership and ensuring that the previously disadvantaged do not continue to be discriminated against with regards of land tenure in the country. However, land tenure reform for communal land has been marred with disputes pertaining to African tenure systems versus those influenced by colonial structures. In this regard, this paper seeks to highlight the need to decolonise communal land tenure reform for the improved implementation of rural development plans.