Ruth Hall Profile picture
Sep 15, 2020 21 tweets 13 min read Read on X
Webinar: Equitable access to land

Finally, a court said to government: no, you can't sell off public land when it could be used for affordable housing. Join activists & allies to map the way forward.
Thur 17th 13.00
#Land4PeopleNot4Profit #EquitableAccess plaas.org.za/plaas-webinar-…
@MandiShandu says the Tafelberg judgment in case taken by @ReclaimCT shows that spatial inequality has to be disrupted, and the state - city, province & national - all have constitutional responsibilities to use public land to foster redress & equity.✊🏽 #Land4PeopleNot4Profit Image
@CapeTown sold off land earmarked for affordable housing, for a short-term cash injection of R130 million. It was unconstitutional 'cos the state has constitutional duty to provide access to adequate housing (Section 26(1)) & equitable access to land (Section 25(5). @MandiShandu
The court said the State must rapidly release land for affordable housing & other basic needs to ensure equitable access. Private property power & market can't override these rights. @MandiShandu @NdifunaUkwazi @ReclaimCT #Land4PeopleNot4Profit Image
The state *must* disrupt property relations. To create equitable access to land, as required in the 'property clause', means state must privilege change. State must abandon the notion that certain parts of the city are for certain kinds of people. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
Sheila Madikane of @ReclaimCT says that poor people need to live closer to their jobs - more than rich people do. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit Image
Sheila says R1,500 -R3,000 is the maximum that working class people can afford to pay as monthly rent. Evictions push people further and further out - into occupying open land far out on the periphery or making the hard choice to live on the streets. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
@ReclaimCT is saying that market value of land cannot be the state's guiding principle. The state is not an estate agent. Public land has to be prioritised for purposes that shift inequality - economic, social and spatial. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit Image
@NkanyisoGums of @PLAASuwc says the Tafelberg case shows that the constitutional right of "access to land on an equitable basis" is a real right. It is not restricted to rural land. Every citizen has this right. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit Image
The next steps in this struggle for land are:
1. push for framing legislation to set out how people can activate the right of access to land on an equitable basis,

says @NkanyisoGums #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
2. ensure that land & money available are shared on the basis of principles of equity - not just govt handing out land. State has to be answerable for prioritising people with most urgent needs - not elite capture.

says @NkanyisoGums #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
3. facilitate subdivision! You cannot have smallholders without small farms. Enable denser housing options on well-located land in cities. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
4. recognise informal tenure (or 'social tenures') of the poor as constituting real property rights. Otherwise our property system is biased only to recognise private title, and not recognise the rights of the poor. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
5. budget properly to fix SA's land system - administration, management, redistribution and support for land use. And fix the institutions that are meant to manage this. Chronic problems here.... #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
Expropriation must be used for land reform purposes where it's needed - but not a silver bullet, says @MandiShandu. The most rapid way to obtain land for redistribution is to ensure that public land is made available. And definitely stop it selling off. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit Image
A dynamic debate here. Sheila Madikane of @ReclaimCT says govt must expropriate vacant land that can be used for housing. Public interests must override private ownership. What's the social utility of the land? #Land4PeopleNot4Profits Image
Since 2010, @ReclaimCT has been fighting for the vacant public land in Sea Point to be made available for affordable housing. Since 2015, the sale of the land has been in dispute. In 2020, the courts say the sale was illegal. Finally, a victory. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
This tendency of government to sell off land in the market, or to allocate to elites, should make us suspicious of expropriation. The question is not just how the state *gets* the state, but how citizens can get the power to claim land from the state. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit Image
Land is a finite resource. There's no more being created. So every decision about allocation and access is a balancing act between competing interests and needs. This is what the courts say. #Land4PeopleNot4Profit
Last thought from a brilliant webinar. @MandiShandu says now's the time for a radical law that says how every citizen can claim a right of equitable access to land. That's the next step. 🔥

#Land4PeopleNot4Profit @NdifunaUkwazi @CovidCoalition Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Ruth Hall

Ruth Hall Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @RuthHallPLAAS

Apr 26, 2022
Our colleague Dr Farai Mtero will be doing this interview - catch him now! On Radio567 @CapeTalk on #landreform and @MYANC
Dr Mtero says that land donations is one way land can be made available for redistribution - but this can only complement state efforts and cannot substitute for them.
The state should not shy away from expropriating land and using its constitutional powers to redistribute land, says @FaraiMtero
Read 7 tweets
Mar 17, 2022
WEBINAR: Chinese investments in African agriculture

Starting in a moment. Do join!

Several fabulous speakers including @PLAASuwc postdoc Dr George Mudimu @toveratm

@Peasant_Journal @D_Brautigam
plaas.org.za/webinar-chines…
@PLAASuwc @toveratm @Peasant_Journal @D_Brautigam You can still get the link to watch live here: uwc.zoom.us/webinar/regist…
'Touted as a new model for delivering agriculture aid to Africa, the ATDC is surrounded with much debate as with regards to the possibility of simultaneously delivering aid and achieving commercial goals.' - at webinar on Chinese investments in African agriculture

@FutureAgrics
Read 18 tweets
Feb 4, 2022
Article 1 by @esulle46 .

Land Grabbing and Agricultural Commercialization Duality: Insights from Tanzania’s Transformation Agenda.

Afriche e Orienti (Italian Journal on African and Middle Eastern Studies), 17 (3): 109-128. Permanent link: aiepeditore.com/portfolio-arti…
“Farmers and pastoralists at the grassroots level are keen to see an increase in investments in the agricultural sector, but they are not willing to give up their land to investors”.

This article addresses diverse responses to and local politics of contested commercialisation.
Article 2 by @esulle46

Social Differentiation and the Politics of Land: Sugar Cane Outgrowing in Kilombero, Tanzania, Journal of Southern African Studies, 43 (3): 517-533. Permanent link: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Read 10 tweets
Sep 6, 2021
#LandGovernance: Today is DAY 1 of the Political Economy of Land Governance in Africa short course.

The class of 2021 comprises 88 land professionals from 29 African countries.

Thread 👇

Read more: bit.ly/2V5iLZB
@NELGA_AU @PLAASuwc @UWConline @ECA_OFFICIAL @giz_gmbh
Colonial conceptions of customary tenure continue to inform conceptions of the customary today. The "customary" is not fixed from some time immemorial; it has been reshaped for ideological & political purposes.

Prof. Kojo Amanor, African Studies, Ghana
@UnivofGh @IASUG Image
@UnivofGh @IASUG It's thrilling to get to know the land officials, activists, professionals and academics from across the continent.... The next generation of African land expertise.

The Political Economy of #LandGovernance in Africa short course - now online. Image
Read 91 tweets
Apr 28, 2021
FREE ACCESS to articles on #COVID19 pandemic & post-pandemic futures in @Peasant_Journal - for the next few days only. Here's the list. Please share!

Agroecology and the reconstruction of a post-COVID-19 agriculture, by Miguel Altieri & Clara Nicholls
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
From biomedical to politico-economic crisis: the food system in times of Covid-19, by Jan Douwe van der Ploeg
- free to access for the next few days only @Peasant_Journal
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
This food crisis is different: COVID-19 and the fragility of the neoliberal food security order, by Jennifer Clapp & William G. Moseley @JennClapp @WilliamGMoseley
- free to access for the next few days only @Peasant_Journal #Africanfoodsystems
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Read 12 tweets
Feb 11, 2021
What can we learn from India's farmer protests?

@PLAAS webinar starting now. Click below to watch (now or later) and follow #FarmersProtests

j.mp/3jvxMeX
Most Indian farmers have less than 2 hectares! And depend on state-guaranteed prices for wheat & rice. This has been the foundation for smallholder agriculture for decades. It's this system which is under threat from new agricultural laws.

Siddharth Joshi, PhD #FarmersProtests
Restrictions on buying farmland by non-farmers and companies in Karnataka have been removed. These were meant to protect farming communities from dispossession by corporate interests. The squeeze on farmers means a crisis for rural people, says Joshi

#FarmersProtests
Read 20 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(