Media coverage of Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill’s signing

On 28 November it was made public that the President has signed the contentious Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill into law.  Although the President is yet to proclaim when the law will come into effect, some civil society organisations and activists from the “Stop the Bantustan Bills” campaign (https://stopthebantustanbills.org/ ) are shocked that their pleas for equal property and citizenship rights for rural people have been ignored.  Here are some of the recent television and radio segments addressing the issue:

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President signs Traditional and Khoi San Leadership Bill into Law

Press Statement issued by Land and Accountability Research Centre, University of Cape Town

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Traditional and Khoi San Leadership bill into law. This shock announcement was made in Parliament on Thursday 28 November. Civil society had anticipated that the President would refer the Bill back to Parliament after two Panel reports warned that provisions of the Bill are in breach of fundamental Constitutional rights. The first report, in 2017, was by a High Level Panel created by the Speakers of Parliament, and chaired by former President Kgalema Motlanthe. The second was by the President’s own Advisory Panel into Land Reform which reported earlier this year.

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The great trial dodge: Ingonyama Trust and the price of a date deferred

With the rights of almost 10% of the SA population at stake and a landmass close to a third of the size of KwaZulu-Natal under review, the case that was meant to be heard in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on 22 November 2019 had the potential to light a national fuse.

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Casac unhappy about postponement of Ingonyama

The postponement of the KwaZulu-Natal rural land case against Ingonyama Trust Board will prolong the vulnerability of residents who are forced to pay rent under a lease agreement, said Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac).

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Eleventh-hour delay in Ingonyama Trust court case involving King Goodwill Zwelithini

Zulu royal land trust is accused of ‘extorting’ millions from rural residents.

A politically charged court case involving millions of rands in rent paid to a trust headed by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has been postponed at the last moment.

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Traditional Khoi-San Leadership Act Underpinned By Idea That Rural People Cannot Think

Last week South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Traditional Khoi-San Leadership Act. Some have called it controversial, others colonial or corrupting. And indeed, it is all of those things. But it also signals the utter contempt the government has for rural people.

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Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act ‘brings back apartheid Bantustans’, say activists

In a recent article in Maverick Citizen, we explained that the Traditional and Khoi-san Leadership Act was likely to rob millions of rural people, women in particular, of their rights. Maverick Citizen sought the views of rural land activists from Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and Limpopo who have been particularly vociferous in the fight against this bill taking hold and championing the rights of rural communities.

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Government’s adoption of traditional leadership laws is a betrayal of rural South Africans

The recent enactment of two pieces of traditional leadership legislation legitimises the suppression of free economic activity in communal areas, deprives people of access to resources and opens the way to violence against them.

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Another Bantustan Bill gets ‘King Cyril’s’ nod

Last week I was privileged to interview Zapiro about his latest cartoon collection Which Side is Up? It is a rhetorical question appended to a cartoon that caricatures “King” Cyril and “Ace” Magashule on the same classic playing card.

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Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act Threatens Rights Over Communal Land

On 20 November 2019 President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the contentious Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act into law. While the Act has not come into force yet, it will have a devastating impact on the lives of people living on communal land in South Africa. In particular, this Act will undermine the hard-fought legal victories that communal land right holders have obtained in the last two years.

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