Tag: land ownership

Poet Antjie Krog returns to the landscape of her childhood. The Free State plains enchant her. It is her home, and also the home of her mother, the writer Dot Serfontein. Now in her nineties, Dot is frail and needs full-time care. However, her intellect and sense of humour remain razor-sharp. Her writing is also comparable to that of her daughter.

The National Housing Act should be amended to address mass unlawful land occupation in South Africa. During my doctoral research in public law, I came to realise that the legal tools currently available are not working. The system is failing both landowners and the thousands of people occupying land unlawfully, not because they want to, but because they have no other choice.

On January 24, 2025, the country experienced a wave of mixed emotions. This followed the President’s signing of the contentious Expropriation Bill of 2020 into law as the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024. The President has not yet announced the commencement date. Consequently, the Act is not yet in force, and there is no indication of when this announcement will be made.

The issue of land rights is an ongoing and complex topic of debate for South Africans. Rights to Land comes at a time when land redistribution by government is underway. Th

History repeats itself – with vicious, chilling accuracy. Just under twenty years ago, the Zimbabwean justice system seemed to have prevailed over a frothing-at-the-mouth late President Robert Mugabe who had lost a number of court battles against the besieged white commercial farmers.

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.

South Africa’s economic recovery relies to a large extent on creating a more enabling business environment and putting the right structural economic reforms in place. The country needs to prioritise those reforms that will deliver results both in the short and long term and put the ruling party’s tendency to revert to ideological thinking aside in the interests of rescuing the economy.

The Upgrading or Land Tenure Rights Act (ULTRA) is arguably democratic South Africa’s most important law. Yet virtually no one knows about it. A proposed amendment is currently before Parliament but only one aspect has enjoyed attention: the removal of gender discrimination.

Property, and the ownership of land, is an emotive topic in South Africa. While progress towards redressing inequality in land ownership and the property sector could be far quicker, the good news is that we know where we stand, and property offers unique prospects for achieving real social change.