Ben Cousins, University of the Western Cape What is going wrong in South Africa’s land reform programme, and how can its failings be addressed? In 22 years land reform has barely altered the agrarian structure of South Africa, and has had only minor effects on rural livelihoods. Partly unintentionally, partly by design, land reform has […]
land redistribution
Posted inNews/Politics
Why the traditional leadership bill will entrench corrupt, rural political atmosphere
At this very moment, government efforts to enact the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Bill are advancing; it is up to civil society to stop this. The legislation would entrench power and further legitimacy to undemocratic structures in traditional leadership operating within an often violent and corrupt rural political atmosphere. Even if the bill were conducive […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Whose land is it anyway?
It’s no secret, 100 years later and we are still living with the effects of the 1913 Land Act. While watching the news clip with President Jacob Zuma opening yet another exhibition “commemorating” the Land Act, the idea of marking the dispossession of land an occasion to be commemorated by exhibitions makes me wonder about […]