Land, power & custom : controversies generated by South Africa's Communal Land Rights Act

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Land, power & custom : controversies generated by South Africa's Communal Land Rights Act

[edited by Aninka Claassens & Ben Cousins]

UCT Press , Published for distribution in the United States by Ohio University Press, 2008

  • : Ohio University Press
  • : UCT Press

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Land, power and custom

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Note

"Legal Resources Centre"

DVD contains "current and historical legislation affecting communal land and affidavits by rural applicants, state officials and traditional leaders in pending litigation concerning land rights and chiefly power"--Back cover

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: Ohio University Press ISBN 9780821418734

Description

Land tenure rights are a burning issue in South Africa, as in Africa more widely. Land, Power, and Custom explores the implications of the controversial 2004 Communal Land Rights Act, criticized for reinforcing the apartheid power structure and ignoring the interests of the common people. This compilation of essays and case studies written by experts navigates through competing viewpoints to discuss the tensions between the new democratic government and traditional tribal leaders, the land rights of affected yet isolated or marginalized groups, and concerns about the constitutionality of the CLRA itself. A DVD accompanying the book contains the affidavits of four communities challenging the Act, pleadings, hearings, and submissions, as well as the entire body of South African legislation involved in this challenge, dating back to the late nineteenth century.
Volume

: UCT Press ISBN 9781919895505

Description

Land is a burning issue in South Africa, as in Africa more widely. One particularly controversial aspect is reform of land tenure in the former homelands. This book is written from research generated in the course of preparing a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Communal Land Rights Act of 2004. It combines chapters on land tenure, customary law, history and land reform and detailed case studies collected from rural communities. They explain the impact that provisions of the Act will have on current problems, that they will introduce new forms of conflict and instability, and entrench distortions that derive from colonialism and apartheid. The DVD contains affidavits and historical and current Acts pertaining to this case.

Table of Contents

  • Contextualising the controversies: dilemmas of communal tenure reform in post-apartheid South Africa
  • An overview of the Communal Land Rights Act 11 of 2004
  • Tagging the Bill, gagging the provinces: the Communal Land Rights Act in Parliament
  • The nature of land rights under indigenous law in Africa
  • Characterising 'communal' tenure: nested systems and flexible boundaries
  • 'Official' vs 'living' customary law: dilemmas of description and recognition
  • Women, land and power: the impact of the Communal Land Rights Act
  • Custom-building freehold title: the impact of family values on historical ownership in the Eastern Cape
  • Contested terrain: land rights and chiefly power in historical perspective
  • Chiefs and the ANC in South Africa: the reconstruction of tradition?
  • Power, accountability and apartheid borders: the impact of recent laws on struggles over land rights
  • The Kalkfontein land purchases: eighty years on and still struggling for ownership
  • Stealing restitution and selling land allocations: Dixie, Mayaeyane and Makuleke
  • Customary law and zones of chiefly sovereignty: the impact of government policy on whose voices prevail in the making and changing of customary law
  • Index.

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