Contested Histories and Current Struggles
Edited by William Beinart, Rosalie Kingwill and Gavin Capps
Who controls the land and minerals in the former Bantustans of South Africa – chiefs, the state or landholders?
Disputes are taking place around the ownership of resources, decisions about their exploitation and who should benefit. With respect to all of these issues, the courts have become increasingly important.
Threats to the rights of ordinary people
The contributors to Land, Law and Chiefs in Rural South Africa capture some of these intense contestations over land, law and political authority, focussing on threats to the rights of ordinary people.
History and customary law feature strongly in most disputes and succession to chieftaincy is also frequently disputed.
Judges have to make decisions in a context where rival claimants to property or office assert their own versions of history and custom. The South African constitution recognises customary law and the courts are attempting to incorporate and develop this branch of jurisprudence as ‘living customary law’.
“Land, Law and Chiefs in Rural South Africa will prove a valuable resource both for practitioners of land reform and for those trying to understand why it is so difficult to achieve.“
– Sara Berry, Department of History, Johns Hopkins University
Lawyers, community leaders and academics are called on to assist in researching cases around restitution, land rights and customary law.
The chapters in this collection discuss legal cases and policy directions that have evolved since 1994. Some chapters analyse the increasing power of chiefs in the South African rural areas, while others suggest that the courts are giving support to popular rights over land and supporting local democratic processes.
“…a timely, accessible and deeply researched collection by leading academics and activists in the field. It will be essential reading for all those who want a better grasp of issues which, although little debated outside of specialist forums, are of vital importance to South Africa’s present and future.“
– Peter Delius, Department of History, University of the Witwatersrand
Contributors record significant pushback from groups that reject traditional authority. These political tensions are a central theme of the collection and thus serve as vital case studies in furthering our understanding of rights and restitution in South Africa.
About the editors
William Beinart is a historian and Emeritus Professor at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He has recently published, with Peter Delius and Michelle Hay, Rights to Land and, with Sonwabile Mnwana and Luvuyo Wotshela, on land reform and agrarian change.
Rosalie Kingwill is a research associate at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape, an independent critical consultant on land issues and an active participant in civil society movements on land reform.
Gavin Capps is a senior lecturer in Economics at Kingston University, London and a research associate at the Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
- Publisher | Wits University Press |
- ISBN | 978-1-77614-679-6 |
- Recommended Price | R420.00 |
- Subject | Politics & Government, Law & Legal Studies, History |
For more information | Corina van der Spoel | +27 (0)11 717 8705/8700 | mail me |