CIDA Youth International Internships: Land Reform in South Africa
October 6th, 2006
One of the main pillars of the Land Reform Programme in South Africa is the Tenure Reform Programme which aims to address the lack of security as regards land occupied by members of traditional communities. There are at present approximately 800 officially recognized traditional communities in South Africa. These areas are by and large situated in the former homelands. Since colonial times ownership of these communal areas has vested in the government of the day. The registers that are supposed to reflect the (weak) rights of the individual occupants are not up to date, and in the vast majority of cases, do not give an accurate account.
In terms of the Communal Land Rights Act of 2004 a comprehensive audit of the status quo as regards the occupancy and the rights attached thereto, as well as of the multiplicity of claims and interests, will be done. New order more secure rights (which can be used as security when accessing development funding) will be issued. This will be followed by the transfer of ownership of the traditional community area concerned to the community itself. A land administration committee (consisting of community members) will be established to be responsible for the day-to-day management of the land. The community will also be in a position to formulate its own land management rules; however, these must be approved by the Department of Land Affairs. This process must be completed. However, currently no policy or implementation programme is in place for the provision of post-transfer support to the beneficiaries of the Land Tenure Reform programme.
The Centre for Property Studies has received funding from CIDA Youth Internship Program to fund 2 young professionals to identify the key role players (all three spheres of government, commercial agriculture, and the private sector) who will be responsible for and affected by pre and post-transfer support with the intention of drafting an implementation manual for this support.
Internship Development Objectives
The internships will significantly contribute to the development of an understanding of pre and post-transfer support issues in relation to the Communal Land Rights Act, the relationship between governmental departments responsible for this support and the private sector providing a Canadian perspective in the land reform debate.
Funding: CIDA
Partners: Centre for Land-related Regional and Development Law and Policy at the University of Pretoria, South Africa |
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