South Africa: Land Rights Have Become a Resource That Is Given to the Elites, Say Rural Land Activists

Rural activists say that the Ingonyama Trust judgment reveals a culture of exploitation of the most vulnerable by traditional leadership and the government, to benefit elites.

On Tuesday, the Land and Accountability Research Centre (Larc) hosted a webinar to unpack what the Ingonyama Trust judgment’s impact would be on land tenure rights.

The chief researcher at Larc, Dr Aninka Claassens, explained that the Ingonyama Trust judgment found that people with residential leases with the trust were now entitled to have those leases cancelled and to be refunded the money they would have paid to the trust as a result of the lease agreements.

She said the trust was found to have breached not only the Constitution and customary law, but the Ingonyama Trust Act by which it is governed.

Claassens highlighted that the judgment made a particularly damning finding against the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, who has ultimate authority over the trust.

The judgment stated that the minister had failed to protect the rights of rural residents. She was ordered to provide people living off the land presided over by the trust with “permission to occupy” certificates and must report to the court every…

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