The “racial mal-administration of land” in SA will be resolved, but how?

This is the question posed by Grahamstown’s Legal Resources Centre director Sarah Sephton who says those interested in who owns and controls land and who does not,  will want to hear national Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile “Gugs” Nkwinti and the parliamentary portfolio committee head of rural development and land reform talk on the issue.

Mercia Andrews, director of the Trust for Community Outreach and Education and president of the SA National NGO Coalition will be there too.

Fiesty judge Dennis Davis chairs the panel which is at 2pm on Monday 4 July at Thinkfest!

Sarah quotes Wellington Thwala of the National Land Committee: “In South Africa, land is presently not only one of the most defining political and development issues, but also perhaps the most intractable. The continuing racial mal-distribution of land will either be resolved through a fundamental restructuring of the government’s land reform programme, or it will be confronted by a fundamental restructuring of property relations by the people themselves. Which direction the country follows depends to a large degree on the urgent and immediate responsiveness of the government to the needs and demands of the country’s 19-million mostly poor, black and landless rural people .

PANEL DISCUSSION ON LAND REFORM:

THINK FEST; GRAHAMSTOWN FESTIVAL

MONDAY 4 JULY AT 14H00.

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) aspires to contribute towards the achievement of a fully democratic society from which poverty is eradicated. Our goals are to promote justice using our Constitution, to build respect for rule of law and contribute to socio-economic transformation within South Africa and beyond.

The LRC will be hosting a panel discussion on land reform and rural development in South Africa.

The panel will be made up as follows:

Chair: Judge Dennis Davis

Discussants:

Mr Gugile Nkwinti: Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform

Mr Phumelele Stone Sizani Portfolio Committee on Rural Development & Land Reform

Ms Mercia Andrews Director at Trust for Community Outreach and education.

Dennis Davis:
He is currently a Judge of the High Court of South Africa and Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court.  Before his appointment to the Bench, Judge Davis held professorial appointments at the law schools of both the Universities of Cape Town and Witwatersrand, where, between 1991 and 1997, he was also the director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies.

Mr Gugile Nkwinti:

Currently holds the position  of Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. He has previously served as the  Member of Executive Council: Local Government & Housing in the Eastern Cape Province. He was a founder Member of the Eastern Cape Education Crisis Committee.

Mr Stone Sizani:

He is has a long track-record as an activist against the apartheid regime. He was part of the ANC structures that were built in the years following the organisation’s unbanning and participated in a number of the policy processes that informed both the writing of the Constitution and initial legislative changes that were introduced in the first democratic Parliament. He is currently a member of the National Assembly and serves as the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform.

Mercia Andrews:

Mercia is the Director of the Trust for Community Outreach and Education, an NGO based in Cape Town. She has established herself at the forefront of the struggle for a better life for South African women and children. She is currently President of the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO) and a founder member of the Conference for the Democratic Left. Over the years she has expressed strong, progressive views on race, on economics, and on women’s health.