Hope in despair: expropriated for political expediency - my family’s fading cries for ancestral land
Date
2021
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Abstract
The signing into law of the South African constitution in 1996 was widely expected to
provide redress for communities that suffered land dispossession during white colonial
rule, among other imperatives. The Restitution of Land Rights Act of 1994, and especially
Section 25 of the constitution, specifically affirmed an individual’s right to land restitution.
As such, there were great expectations that the Natives Land Act of 1913 and other
subsequent legislations on land dispossession would be reversed. As is well documented,
land reform in South Africa has been painfully slow and complex. A distinguishing feature
of this longform narrative article is that it is told through the voices of a family and
community members who share their darkest moments of living and working on white
people’s farms and their struggle to reclaim their land. The research established that not
only is the ideal of land reform in South Africa a monumental failure and disappointment,
but that it is a veritable betrayal that can be damaging on affected people whose quest for
restorative justice remains elusive. It shows our community’s struggle in reclaiming their
ancestral land. After almost a quarter of a century since we lodged our land claim, we have
nothing to show for it. This is also a family story about the travails of lifting ourselves out
of the morass of poverty and deprivation, wrought by land dispossession and forced
removals. Interviews with white farmers whose properties are under the land claims show
that land reform can be a polarising issue that threatens national unity, if not dealt with
prudently, expeditiously and judiciously. This research project consists of two parts, a
longform narrative and a scholarly piece that underpins it.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2021
Keywords
Ancestral land, Land reform