Land Restitution and Democratic Citizenship in South Africa

The Elusive ‘Fair Deal’ in South Africa's Land Reform

“…Land reform was supposed to redistribute land reconfiguring this racially structured inequality. Fraser (2007) however argues that not only has this skewed distribution persisted, but that colonial histories (Everingham and Jannecke, 2006) enmeshed in South African society have been obscured by restitution processes. For example, a key mechanism has been to partner black land reform beneficiaries with white-owned commercial agribusiness.…”

Leveling the Playing Field: Fostering Collaborative Governance Towards On‐Going Reconciliation

“…Many parallels can be drawn between parts of the Indian Act and South Africa's Natives' Land Act of 1913, which was the cornerstone of the apartheid government that existed between 1948 and 1994. Both were based on Indigenous title and responsible for displacing Indigenous peoples onto small portions of land with limited resources and little or no self‐autonomy (Everingham and Jannecke, ). The main difference between the two acts is now that one prevails (i.e.…”

Land restitution and communal property associations: The Elandskloof case

“…Aggravating the challenge for those tasked with establishing these social boundaries is that at the political level 'community' has often been romantically portrayed as a coherent, unitary social entity (Everingham and Jannecke, 2004;Walker, 2008;Kepe, 1999;Hall, 2003). During rapid social change, new communities emerge and old ones disintegrate, and defining a community (for the purposes of land restitution and reform) is likely to stimulate conflict (Kepe, 1999).…”

“…A number of CPAs are ineffective and have been liquidated (Hall, 2003), and Elandskloof, under administration, demonstrates what can go wrong. Everingham and Jannecke (2004) are part of a group who doubt whether communal property holding entities are the correct form of juridical person for land reform and restitution at all. However, they do not suggest an alternative land holding structure.…”