Nomboniso Gasa: Traditional Authorities in South Africa are Lodging New Land for Mineral Rights
Channel: SACSIS
Date: 2014-10-10

Speaking at an event hosted by SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) to examine the impact of traditional leadership on rural land reform, Nomboniso Gasa, posited that there’s a new form of dispossession taking place in South Africa, as untapped mineral resources influence a new round of land claims by the rural elite.

Communal land rights and collective benefits for the rural poor are being sacrificed as a feudal and patriarchal system of governance, sustained in the name of heritage, is expanding the authority of chiefs over valuable tracts of land. 

This quest for land and mineral rights by traditional authorities is motivated by deposits of platinum in the North West, unexplored coal in KZN and titanium on the Wild Coast, argued Gasa.

About Nomboniso Gasa:

Nomboniso Gasa is a researcher, analyst and public speaker on gender, politics and culture. She weaves together her academic background, lived experience and constant engagement with contemporary and historical South African issues. Her work is in scholarly journals, in local and international print, electronic and audio-visual media.  She has featured in international documentaries. She is a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Law and Society, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town. Her focus is on the intersection of land, living custom, the construction of identities and Traditional Leadership.