A brief narrative of the history of Black Land Ownership in South Africa.
As Sol Plaatje wrote in the opening lines of ‘Native life in South Africa’, “Awakening on a Friday morning, June 20, 1913 the South African native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth.
IN THE BEGINNING:
According to archaeologists’ human beings have roamed the South African plains for more than 100,000 years and the Khoisan defiantly for thousands of years.
The Khoikhoi were nomadic and enjoyed free access to all the land, specifically along the southern and western coast strips where adequate grazing was to be found. Other long-term inhabitants were the AmaXhosa who have moved into the north eastern and eastern origin from the north, starting at least many of hundreds of years before the arrival of Europeans. For all intents and purposes they lived in relative peace and harmony. But alas, as we moved towards the mid-17th century all of this changed. This would ultimately lead to irrevocably alternating not only the legacy of the Khoikhoi and the Xhosa but also to the lasting inheritance of the marginalisation of all black South Africans.
SETTING THE STAGE FOR THINGS TO COME:
In the beginning of the enduring legacy of exclusion and the possession of land in South Africa dates back to 1652 with the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck. As a symbol, Van Riebeeck planted a massive hedge, with the intention of demarcating the extent of his property ownership and to prevent encroachment of neighboring tribes. As you can imagine this must have been a massive culture shock for the Khoikhoi who had up to this point had free access to all the land. The great Khoikhoi leader Autshumato, was cordial at first but slowly a mutual animosity developed over access to pastures. By 1657 Van Riebeeck “granted”, by royal decree, title deeds to nine Dutchman in what is now known as Bishopscourt. For Autshumato this was not taken lightly and so began their 150-year resistance to prevent the Europeans from taking their land.
By the time Van Riebeeck left in 1662, 250 Europeans lived in what was beginning to look like a developing colony making clear exclusion of the native people. In just eight years at the Cape, Van Riebeek had sown the seeds of a division that continues to harm us till this day.
As centuries ensued confrontations developed with ever increasing intensity; standoffs lead to massacres and land assumptions lead to restrictive legislation. By the early 20th century white expansionists had successfully tricked black tribal chiefs into trading their communal property rights and set the stage for the 1913 Natives Land Act. THE NATIVE LAND ACT (NO. 27 OF 1913): The natives land act was specifically created for the control of black access to land. This act had a profound effect on the African population across the country and fundamentally still maintains that same effect on black people today. The Act’s most devastating condition for Africans was the exclusion from buying or hiring land in 93% of South Africa.
Africans, despite being higher in population numbers were only allocated 7% of land ownership and were only allowed to remain on white owned land as labourers and servants, which forced independent black farmers into the labour market by denying them the rights to purchase land.
It is important to note that black farmers were prepared to buy property but the Act was passed to alleviate the problem of competition. According to Patricia Gratten Dixon, “The Native Land Act was also a measure designed to protect whites, not only the rich white farmers who were assured of the lion’s share of available land, but the landless by owners who were thereafter assured of work on farms of others, and the urban poor whites who could no longer be forced to compete with skilled or semiskilled natives.”
In essence the act went beyond restricting land ownership it also limited opportunities of income for Africans other than to work for white farmers and industrialists. The Act seized the very asset which was central to the lives of African people and rendered them destitute. As a result black people were forced to live in overcrowded areas causing devastating poverty and starvation. The shadow of the Natives Land Act and other legislation that followed are still evident in post apartheid South Africa as a significant proportion of land remains in the ownership of white farmers.
THE GROUP AREAS ACT OF 1950 AND THE 99 YEAR LEASE:
The Group Areas Act was fashioned as the ‘cornerstone’ of Apartheid policy and aimed to eliminate mixed neighborhoods in favour of racially segregated ones, which would allow South Africans to develop separately (South African Institute for Race Relations).
The Group Areas Act displaced hundreds of thousands of people; breaking up families, friends and communities. By 1983, over 600,000 people had been removed and relocated from their original homes (Pirie, 1983:348). In these designated areas; the townships, black people were not allowed to own a property instead they were forced to rent their properties from the local municipality under the ‘99-year lease agreement’. These laws affect the ability of black people to create or accumulate wealth.
Consequently, significant numbers of South Africans have never in the history of their families experienced formal property ownership and its wealth creation benefits. This has been a fundamental impact on the economic potential of South Africa and black people in particular.
