The Deputy Minister of Public Works, Mr Jeremy Cronin, briefed the Committee on the preliminary responses of the Department of Public Works (DPW) to the inputs received during the public hearings on the Expropriation Bill [B4- 2015]. However, the Department had been expecting that the Committee would finalise its report on those hearings and thus did not yet have a full written response. The DPW acknowledged that there were many useful points but had not accepted all input.

The Deputy Minister of Public Works continued to take Members through the comments made during the public hearings on the Expropriation Bill, indicating what comments had been made and whether the Department agreed with them or had other views. The Department had added to the Preamble to make it clear that section 34 of the Constitution provided that anyone had the right to approach the courts for resolution of a dispute. In relation to the definitions, there was discussion on whether the Bill should refer to both high courts and magistrates’ courts.

The Committee continued deliberations on the official list of committee proposed amendments to the Bill (A-list) accompanied by the B version which incorporated all the proposed amendments into the Bill. Chapter 4 on Intention to Expropriate and Expropriation of Property was completed.

The Committee met to deal with the two proposed amendments that had been made by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the Expropriation Bill [B4B-2015]. The first amendment aimed to increase the number of days in which the municipal manager must inform the expropriating authority, in writing, of charges from 20 days to 30 days, if land which had been expropriated is subject to municipal rates.

To amend various laws under the administration of the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, so as to substitute certain obsolete definitions to ensure legal certainty; to effect certain consequential amendments in this regard; and to provide for matters connected therewith. BE IT ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa

Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) "Achieve gender equality and empoer all women and girls" regonizes the fundamental role of women in achieving poverty reduction, food security and nutrition. Target 5.a aims to "undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws".

Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) "Achieve gender equality and empoer all women and girls" regonizes the fundamental role of women in achieving poverty reduction, food security and nutrition. Target 5.a aims to "undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws".

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on establishing and operating a paralegal or other community-based program to help people obtain legal identity documents. It is primarily for people designing and managing community-based paralegal projects to help clients access documentary proof of citizenship and other forms of proof of legal identity, such as birth certificates.

The paper explores whether the post-Cold War rule of law reform agenda in sub-Saharan Africa has enhanced or impeded gender equity. Argues that a large part of the gender equality agenda remains unaddressed by the legal and institutional reforms undertaken so far. The section on reforms to property laws suggests that they have at worst deepened gender inequality and at best left biases intact. Official discussion of gender and land tenure remains disconnected from broader processes of economic restructuring.

A wide-ranging valedictory lecture by the veteran radical land guru. Offers glimpses of the role of law in Tanzania’s jump from the frying pan of state nationalism into the fire of corporate neoliberalism. Argues that the creation of ‘free’ labour and of land as capital were central to the colonial project. Examines the changing status of customary titles and the series of Land Acts from 1999. Argues that De Soto’s current Mkurabita project will in effect mean registering large chunks of village land in preparation for their alienation through force, fraud, and corruption.

La investigación como un tejido de relaciones, complicidad y empatía
Ruth Bautista Durán

The Land Portal Foundation, Landesa and the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) co-facilitated a discussion on Liberia’s Land Rights Bill between July 18 and August 8, 2018. The discussion took place in collaboration with the Rights & Rice Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and the Land Rights Now campaign. 

The full dialogue can be read here.