Image courtesy of Ndifuna Ukwazi.
Venue: UWC, Jakes Gerwel Hall
Date: Tuesday, 11 March 2025
Time: 12:00 to 14:00
The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies and Tshisimani School for Activist Education at the University of the Western Cape, invite you to a public dialogue on land justice, and expropriation as a means of advancing land justice. This is a platform for students, academics, activists, workers and community members to engage in this urgent and pressing matter.
Land ownership patterns in the democratic South Africa continue to be skewed along racial lines. Spatial and land inequality have not been resolved despite 30 years of land reform. In January, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Bill into law. Since the first Bill was tabled in 2008, it has been a long process to bring our legislation in line with the Constitution, which allows for expropriation for land reform purposes.
Reactions against the Expropriation Act by AfriForum, political parties, and the response from US President Donald Trump, have dominated the public narrative, spreading disinformation and fake news. In the midst of all this, the voices of those who stand to benefit, and who want land to be expropriated, have not been heard.
This public dialogue is aimed at democratising the conversation and opening up discussion about what expropriation can be for, what it can enable, and how and where it should be used.
We will ask:
- What does the newly passed Expropriation Act say?
- How is the government planning to use its expropriation powers?
- What is needed to bring about equitable access to land in South Africa?
- How can expropriation be used to respond to specific struggles for urban land?
- How can expropriation be used to respond to specific struggles for rural land?
- What is our role as an engaged University in advancing land justice.
The programme will include an address from Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso, followed by a panel of representatives from:
- Food and Farming Campaign
- UWC Student Representative Council
- Intlungu YaseMatyotyombeni
- Women on Farms
- Reclaim the City
