Policy Submissions

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Reforming communal land tenure in South Africa – why land titling is not the answer: Critical comments on the communal land rights bill, 2002
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2002) Cousins, Ben
The long-awaited draft Communal Land Rights Bill sets out government’s proposals to resolve urgent land tenure problems in the former ‘homeland’ areas, where most rural South Africans still live, and where land is registered in the name of the state. These problems derive from lack of adequate legal recognition of communal tenure systems, abuse by powerful elites, breakdown of the old permit-based system, and gender inequalities. They result in conflicting claims to land and bitter disputes over authority. Development efforts are severely constrained by lack of clarity on land rights, and the tensions that result. Tenure insecurity also results from the forced overcrowding of these areas under apartheid. This means that de facto rights often overlap and are in conflict.
Submission to the portfolio committee for land and agriculture: The communal land rights bill
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2003) PLAAS; NLC
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. Various rural non-governmental organisations have been partners in the process of convening rural consultation meetings. These including AFRA, AnCRA, Masifunde, Nkuzi, TRAC North West, and TRALSO. This submission is made on behalf of the joint PLAAS/NLC project and reflects the lessons the project has learnt about the bill during the consultation process. Land NGOs and rural communities will make their own submissions directly to the portfolio committee.
Comments on the green paper on land reform 2011
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2011) PLAAS
This document is a joint submission by researchers at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies in response to the Green Paper on Land Reform released by the Minister for Rural Development and Land Reform on 30 August 2011. It is a broad response commenting on a range of crucial issues facing land reform in South Africa. It is informed by 15 years of research and policy engagement on the part of PLAAS researchers.
Current state of extension and advisory services in South African fisheries
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2012) Hara, Mafaniso; Isaacs, Moenieba
The fishing industry can be divided into marine, recreational, aquaculture and inland sub-sectors. The marine sub-sector is the main commercial fishing sector comprised of industrial fishing and also small-scale fishing, the latter having just been gazetted in June 2012. The recreational sub-sector has the most participants with over three quarters of people participating in the sector. The last two are new sectors that are currently being created and legally formalised. The marine small-scale fisheries, inland fisheries and community aquaculture have been established on the basis of providing for food security and poverty alleviation for coastal communities and inland rural communities. Prior to the revised Marine Living Resources Act of 1998, only marine commercial fishing and recreational fishing had been legally recognised as the fishing activities. Fisheries management had thus been the conventional science based centralised type whereby government was solely responsible for management of fisheries. Because fishing rights were only given to a few entities, an exclusionary type to co-management between government and the few players was possible. As a result of this past management approach, government had not developed a formal extension capability. This changed after the end of apartheid in 1994 and the entry of increase numbers of rights holders into the industry as part of transformation of the industry. Despite the entry of increased number of people into the industry, interaction and consultation between government and industry has been formalised through scientific and management working groups. Participation in these working groups is through representation by a selected member of a rights holders association, meaning that those that do not belong to industry associations are not represented. Industry associations also make use of private (consultant based) advisory and legal services. Other coercive forms of advice to industry by both international and national organisations are the market and consumer based initiatives such as certifications and fair trade.
Restitution of land rights amendment bill 2013
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2013) Cousins, Ben; Hall, Ruth; Isaacs, Moenieba; Paradza, Gaynor
1.1. This document represents a response from researchers at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies to the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill as published on 19 October 2013. It is a statement by the signatories below and does not purport to represent the views of the University or the Institute as a whole. All those signing have been supporters of the Restitution programme since its inception in 1994, and several have been intimately involved in its development over the years. 1.2. Our comments are made in the spirit of the original aims of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994: that a just resolution should be found for the situation those dispossessed of land rights through racist and apartheid legislation, and that this should be done in a way that supports the broader national aims of reconciliation and the social and economic development of our people. PLAAS’s experience and role in supporting and monitoring the restitution programme are set out in the later section 10 of this submission.
Position papers for the national Land tenure summit
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014) Hall, Ruth; du Toit, Andries
The attached position papers were written by researchers based at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape, and at the Centre for Law and Society, University of Cape Town. They were distributed to the 2000 people who attended government’s National Land Tenure Summit in early September 2014. Also attached is a newspaper article on aspects of the summit written by Ruth Hall of PLAAS and published in the Daily Dispatch on 10 September 2014, and a newspaper article by Tara Weinberg of CLS, published in the Sunday Independent on 28 September 2014.
Submission to the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries on draft preservation and development of agricultural land framework bill and policy As published in the government gazette 38545, No 210 of 13 March 2015
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015) PLAAS
PLAAS has read and considered the implications of the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Framework Bill and Policy, and submits the following comments and recommendations to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 1.4. We wish to place on record that we request further involvement in discussion of the Bill and Policy and to provide further written and oral submission where there is opportunity to do so, to substantiate the points made in this submission.
Submission to the portfolio committee on public works on expropriation bill of 2015
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015) Hall, Ruth
The Bill brings legislation in line with the requirements of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 108 of 1996. To date, despite the efforts of progressive movements to ensure that expropriation would be provided for in our Bill of Rights, in support of land reform and the redistribution of access to land and other natural resources, our legal framework is still set by the Expropriation Act of 1975.
Submission to the portfolio committee on rural development and land reform on extension of security of tenure bill of 2015
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2016) Hall, Ruth
1.1. The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) welcomes the initiative to amend the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, 62 of 1997. 1.2. PLAAS is a constituent unit of the School of Government at the University of the Western Cape. PLAAS engages in research, training, policy development and advocacy in relation to land and agrarian reform, rural governance and natural resource management. PLAAS aims for rigour in its scholarship, excellence in its training, and effectiveness in its policy support and advocacy. It strives to play a critical yet constructive role in processes of social, economic and political transformation. 1.3. PLAAS has read and considered the implications of the Extension of Security of Tenure Bill of 2016, and submits the following comments and recommendations to the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform.
Submission to the Constitutional Review Committee
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2018) Hall, Ruth; Cousins, Ben
An activist's user guide to regional and international guidelines and principles for large-scale land-based investments
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, 2019-12-01) Zamchiya, Phillan
As multinational corporations continue to invest in large-scale, land-based, commercial ventures in Africa, a need to regulate such investments to protect the rural poor, especially women, has been identified. A number of stakeholders have intensified efforts since 2009 to promote ‘responsible’ investment in land, in particular by deploying regional and international principles and guidelines on large-scale, land-based investments.
PLAAS Submission on 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, 2020-02-28) Mtero, Farai; Hall, Ruth
The 18th Amendment Bill of South Africa’s constitution seeks to make changes to Section 25 of the Bill of Rights (the property clause) in order to make explicit the circumstances that would warrant the payment of nil compensation following the expropriation of land. Land reform remains a key aspect of transformation in South Africa. South Africa’sland reform is provided for in the Constitution and the property clause strikes a balance between the protection of existing private property rights and the imperative to effect historical redress through equitable redistribution of land and other natural resources.
Amendment submission: National policy for beneficiary selection and land allocation
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, 2020-03-02) Ramantsima, Katlego; Mtero, Farai; Gumede, Nkanyiso; Du Toit, Andries; Hall, Ruth
PLAAS has read and considered the implications of the National Policy for Beneficiary Selection and Land Allocation and submits the following comments and recommendations to the Director-General: Rural Development and Land Reform.

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