Communal Land Rights Bill (CLRB)
Up one levelSubmissions to Parliamentary Portfolio Committee - November 2003
Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) submission - Geoff Budlender
The Commission on Gender Equality is a statutory body set up under section 187 of the Constitution to protect and promote democracy and gender equality in South Africa. Its mandate is outlined in its constitutive Act 39 of 1996. Amongst its responsibilities is to ‘evaluate…any system of indigenous law, customs or practices…’ in terms of gender equality.
TRALSO submission
The Transkei Land Services Organisation (TRALSO) is a land service organisation based in Umtata in the Eastern Cape. The organisation was established in 1991 as response to the frustrations of landless people who had suffered various forms of dispossession, which was aggravated by the glaring absence of a land administration system.
PLAAS submission
The Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) of the School of Government at the University of the Western Cape was established in July 1995. PLAAS engages in research, training, post-graduate teaching, policy development and advocacy in relation to land and agrarian reform, rural governance, natural resource management, and poverty and development policy.
PLAAS/NLC Community Consultation Project submission
The National Land Committee (NLC) and the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) of the University of the Western Cape have been funded by DfID UK (Department for International Development) to undertake a process of community consultation around the Communal Land Rights bill. The project began in August 2003 and has engaged in consultation with representatives from over 90 rural communities in the different provinces of South Africa.
South African Council of Churches (SACC) submission
1. The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is the facilitating body for a fellowship of 23 Christian churches, together with one observer-member and associated para-church organisations. Founded in 1968, the SACC includes among its members Protestant, Catholic, African Independent, and Pentecostal churches with a combined constituency of roughly 15 million members and adherents. SACC members are committed to expressing jointly, through proclamation and programmes, the united witness of the church in South Africa, especially in matters of national debate.
TRAC-Mpumalanga submission
Established in 1982 as a programme of the Black Sash, the Transvaal Rural Action Committee opposed the Apartheid regime’s policy of forced removals of black communities to homeland areas and isolated townships. Since the unbanning of the liberation movements and the establishment of a new democratic state TRAC has worked with rural communities including farm dwellers and residents of state land in the former homelands to secure their land rights and access to development resources. The following inputs are based on actual experiences of TRAC-MP staff in the Province of Mpumalanga over the past few years. TRAC-MP is grateful for the opportunity to present these experiences to National Parliament and hopes that this presentation contributes positively to the ongoing process or securing land rights for occupants of state land and the democratization of our society.
Mpumalanga Consultative Group on Land submission
We are representing people living in various communal areas in Mpumalanga, especially where there are communal problems. This forum is an umbrella of various community based organizations and community projects that are concerned about the communal problems that are prevailing in their areas. The forum was established in order to fight for the rights of people under the leadership of institution of traditional chiefs. Most of the areas represented are former Kangwane, Lebowa and KwaNdebele.
Legal Resources Centre (LRC) submission
The Legal Resources Centre is a non-profit public interest law firm. Much of our work is devoted to representing poor rural communities, and our comments on the Communal Land Rights Bill are made in the light of such experience.
Hlanganani - Polokwane Community Group submission
The Hlanganani-Polokwane Community Group represents three rural villages in Limpopo Province, namely Ga-Phiri (Asvoegelkrans), Mashamba, and Bungeni. Ga-Maja village is next to Chuenespoort, and falls under the Polokwane Municipality.
Kalkfontein Community Trust submission
We are the descendants of the original co-buyers of the farm Kalkfontein “B&C” and therefore the current owners of the farm. We still live on the farm. The farm Kalkfontein 143JR was bought by two sets of co-buyers in the 1920’s, each forming a separate community. Although the communities live on the same farm, each owns a separate portion of the farm, portions ‘A’ and portions ‘B & C’. Each portion has its own boundaries.
Dwesa/Cwebe Community Consultation submission
The people of Dwesa and Cweba lost their land rights through forced removals to make way for the establishment of the Dwesa Cweba Nature Reserve. In 1993, the people of Dwesa and Cwebe came together to fight for their respective land. In 1995 they lodged their land claim in respect of the Dwesa and Cwebe Nature Reserves with RLCC.
Kgalagadi Community Consultation submission
We represent 15 communities in communal areas of the Northern Cape and North West who came together on the 18 March 2003 at Batlharos to discuss the Communal Land Rights Bill.
Madikwe Community Consultation submission
Madikwe is an area in the Northwest Province that forms part of Moses Kotane Municipality. There are communities in this area that are affected and suffering because of the ‘Black Administration’ and/or the Tribal Authorities Acts (no. 38 of 1927, no. 68 of 1951 and no. 23 of 1978), which forced them together under one tribal authority, whereas historically and traditionally they do not belong to one tribe or fall under one traditional leader.
Greater Manyeleti Land Rights Group submission
We are here, as members of the Community Development Forums in Utha, Dixie, Serville B, Thorndale and Gottenburg C villages. We came together under the banner of Greater Manyeleti Land Rights Group. These villages are on the outskirts of Manyeleti Game Reserve and Sabie Sands Game Reserve, which share boundaries with the famous Kruger National Park. These villages are in Bushbuckridge, Limpopo Province. When we heard about this Bill we soon got together as responsible citizens of this beautiful country, to read and discuss the Bill amongst ourselves to find out what the Bill holds for us and how it will impact on our lives as people living in poor, rural, marginalized and underdeveloped areas.
Rural Women's Movement (Kwa-Zulu Natal) submission
The Rural Women’s Movement (RWM) is a land rights women’s movement comprised of 500 community-based organisations. It’s main objectives are to secure land for women and to facilitate the strengthening of a mass based movement for rural women of Kwa-Zulu Natal. This movement was initiated in July 1998 and has been operating since January 2000. The RWM works and organises in seven regions and districts of Kwa-Zulu Natal, namely: Estcourt, Ladysmith, Uitrecht, Ingongo, Greytown, Melmoth and Vulindlela.
Sekhukhuneland Ad hoc Committee on Land submission
We are an adhoc committee on land from the Sekhukhuneland region. This committee was established on 12 January 2003 at Leeuwfontein in the Greater Marble Hall Municipality. We represent five local municipalities of the Greater Sekhukhuneland District comprising Marble Hall, Groblersdal, Tubatse, Fetakgomo and Makhuduthamaga municipalities and their rural villages and residents respectively. Sekhukhuni District is composed mainly of poor rural communities, and has been selected as one of the nodal points of the governments Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP). Sekhukhuneland was characterised by popular resistance to apartheid, as well as tribal feuds over chieftaincy and land resulting from the Black Administration Act of 1927 and the Black Authorities Act of 1951.
Transkei Women's Land Rights Group submission
iTranskei women’s lnd rights movement ngumbutho owaqalwa ngoomama bendawo ezithile e Transkei abacinezelekiyelo nabafumene ukuxhatshwazwa nokungasiwa so kwimiba enxulumene nemihlaba. Kungoko sbone kufanelekile ukuba sithathe inxaxheba kule ndibano ngoba lo mthetho usichaphazela ngqo. Okokuqala ndifuna ukuveza imiba ethile xa ndimele abamama ndingqale ngqo kwizinto ezisichaphazelayo.
Umbumbano Lwabesifazane submission
The Ubumbano Lwabesifazane is a women’s organisation that represents the rights of women especially around land and property ownership. This organization is affiliated to RWM and is community based. Its jurisdiction is in the following districts: Mvoti, Ndwendwe, Maphumulo, Mgungundlovu, Vulindlela. It represents more than 500 women organisations.
Landless People's Movement (LPM) submission
These comments on the Communal Land Rights Bill (B 67 – 2003) are submitted by the Landless People’s Movement (LPM). We are a landless people’s movement struggling to acquire land for the poor and landless people of South Africa, established on 24th July 2001 by different communities across the country. After seven years of the new dispensation, we felt that the needs of the people were not being met. That is why we felt we needed to form the movement to argue that the government should speed up the process of land reform in order to benefit the people of South Africa. We have now reached ten years of democracy, but little has happened that is good for the people of South Africa.
Women's Legal Centre submission
The Women’s Legal Centre ("WLC") welcomes the opportunity to make submissions before the Land and Agriculture Parliamentary Committee on the Communal Land Rights Bill ("the bill"). The WLC is a public interest law centre started by women to enable women to use the law in advancing and achieving their rights to equality. WLC employs two main tools in fulfilling its objectives: Litigation and Advocacy.
South African Human Rights Commission submission
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was established in terms of Chapter 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996) to strengthen constitutional democracy in South Africa.
COSATU / NUM submission
COSATU and NUM view land reform in general (comprising all three components of tenure reform, restitution and redistribution) as a priority area of concern. We believe that the political and constitutional imperatives underlying the need for redress should be treated with equal importance as providing access as a basis for addressing productive and income-generating capacity. This is vital taking into consideration the high rates of poverty and unemployment and prevalence of underdevelopment especially in rural areas.
Nkuzi Development Association submission
Nkuzi Development Association is a non-government organisation that works on land and agrarian reform issues throughout the Limpopo and Gauteng Provinces. This Bill is particularly relevant to the Limpopo Province with its large rural population located mostly on the communal land of the three former homelands in the Province.
Royal Bafokeng Nation submission
We have submitted a document (the submission) to the Committee dealing comprehensively with the history of the Royal Bafokeng Nation (Bafokeng) and how we acquired our land. For purposes of this oral presentation, we request that the submitted document be read as if specifically incorporated herein.
National House of Traditional Leaders submission by its legal and corporate department
This memorandum is the response of the Royal Bafokeng Nation ("The Bafokeng") to Notice 2520 in Government Gazette No 25492 of 3 October 2003 in which the Communal Land Rights Bill, 2003 is published for comment by the general public. This submission will focus on the manner in which the Bill affects the Bafokeng and other similarly placed communities.
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