CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL LAWS REDRESSING PAST APARTHEID LAND DISCRIMINATION AND INJUSTICE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

South African land systems were brutally and cruelly administered by the colonial and apartheid rulers pre1994 democratic dispensation. The rulers used the law to forcefully remove black South Africans from their land and they arbitrarily took over except for the non-arable and remote areas earmarked for the majority black. Post-1994, the South African government joined various international organisations as a member of the United Nations. International Conventions and treaties that promote restitution of land back to the people who were violently removed from their land by the rulers became imperative and as such,they were promptly ratified and adopted by South Africa. These international law instruments in conjunction with transformative laws and policies that have been put in place have been very helpful in the quest of ensuring that the black majority reclaim their land. To this end, salient provisions are being used to redress the past land injustices and redistribute land back to the rightful owners. However, the extent to which redistributed land are being used for productive purposes by the current beneficiaries leaves much to be desired. The paper examines various international law instruments and South African laws and policies in place to redress the past land injustices, their impacts, and challenges being faced by the beneficiaries to work the land productively.

Keywords

• access to land
• conventions and treaties
• forced removal
• redistribution
• productive use of land
• south africa