Land, law and chiefs in rural South Africa : contested histories and current struggles / edited by William Beinart, Rosalie Kingwill and Gavin Capps.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Beinart, William, editor.

Kingwill, Rosalie, editor.

Capps, Gavin, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Customary law--South Africa.

Customary law.

Land reform--South Africa.

Land reform.

Land tenure--Law and legislation--South Africa.

Land tenure.

Land use, Rural--South Africa.

Land use, Rural.

Restitution--South Africa.

Restitution.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 282 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Johannesburg, South Africa : Wits University Press, [2021]

Summary:

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. 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'. 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. 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.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

MAP

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION Land, Law and Chiefs: Contested Histories and Current Struggles

CHAPTER 1 Constitutional Court Judgments, Customary Law and Democratisation in South Africa

CHAPTER 2 Was 'Living Customary Law' There All Along?

CHAPTER 3 When Custom Divides 'Community': Legal Battles over Platinum in North West Province

CHAPTER 4 Chiefs, Mines and the State in the Platinum Belt: The Bapo-ba-Mogale Traditional Community and Lonmin

CHAPTER 5 Mining, Graves and Dispossession in Mpumalanga

CHAPTER 6 The Abuse of Interdicts by Traditional Leaders in South Africa

CHAPTER 7 Resisting the Imposition of Ubukhosi: Contested Authority-Making in the Former Ciskei

CHAPTER 8 Black Landlords, Their Tenants and the Native Administration Act of 1927

CHAPTER 9 Customary Law and Landownership in the Eastern Cape

CHAPTER 10 A History of Communal Property Associations in South Africa

CHAPTER 11 'This is Business Land': The Hlolweni Land Claim, 1983-2016

CHAPTER 12 Restitution and Land Rights in the Eastern Cape: The Hlolweni, Mgungundlovu and Xolobeni Cases

CONTRIBUTORS

INDEX.

Notes:

Includes bibloigraphy and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781776146826

1776146824

OCLC:

1250088978