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Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld
Property is a concept that gained traction by the ways in which it organises human relations and access and ownership resources. Research in legal geography has shown that property is mobilised to justify or resist dispossession. Colonial powers invoked problematic ideas of the property rights of in...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Environmental and Geographical Science
2022
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| _version_ | 1867614159287353344 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Ntombini, Kolosa |
| author2 | Ramutsindela, Maano |
| author_browse | Ntombini, Kolosa Ramutsindela, Maano |
| author_facet | Ramutsindela, Maano Ntombini, Kolosa |
| author_sort | Ntombini, Kolosa |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Property is a concept that gained traction by the ways in which it organises human relations and access and ownership resources. Research in legal geography has shown that property is mobilised to justify or resist dispossession. Colonial powers invoked problematic ideas of the property rights of indigenous people to justify land dispossession through trusts. The British empire was particularly well-versed in this, adopting a trusteeship model whereby indigenous land was held in trust. Placing indigenous land in trust enabled the empire to appropriate indigenous land without the moral hazard of violent land dispossession. The empire used trusts under the pretext that it sought to protect indigenous people and their land from increased competition for land triggered by settler influx. However, the trusteeship model fundamentally altered the property rights of indigenous people by redefining historical owners of the land as beneficiaries with no decision-making powers over property. This study shows that the trusteeship model that was instrumental for land dispossession in South Africa re-emerged in the democratic era in the form of community development trusts. These trusts are not community-driven but are instead designed and created by the state to serve as an avenue for the state to exercise control over natural resources and to manage the relations between communities and the state. This study locates these dual roles within the broader political history of South Africa to demonstrate that the democratic state has maintained the symbiotic relationship between trusts and the state and that this enables the state to manage contestations over property. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36595 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:47:36.669Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| publisherStr | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36595 Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld Ntombini, Kolosa Ramutsindela, Maano Environmental and Geographical Science Property is a concept that gained traction by the ways in which it organises human relations and access and ownership resources. Research in legal geography has shown that property is mobilised to justify or resist dispossession. Colonial powers invoked problematic ideas of the property rights of indigenous people to justify land dispossession through trusts. The British empire was particularly well-versed in this, adopting a trusteeship model whereby indigenous land was held in trust. Placing indigenous land in trust enabled the empire to appropriate indigenous land without the moral hazard of violent land dispossession. The empire used trusts under the pretext that it sought to protect indigenous people and their land from increased competition for land triggered by settler influx. However, the trusteeship model fundamentally altered the property rights of indigenous people by redefining historical owners of the land as beneficiaries with no decision-making powers over property. This study shows that the trusteeship model that was instrumental for land dispossession in South Africa re-emerged in the democratic era in the form of community development trusts. These trusts are not community-driven but are instead designed and created by the state to serve as an avenue for the state to exercise control over natural resources and to manage the relations between communities and the state. This study locates these dual roles within the broader political history of South Africa to demonstrate that the democratic state has maintained the symbiotic relationship between trusts and the state and that this enables the state to manage contestations over property. 2022-07-01T15:31:42Z 2022-07-01T15:31:42Z 2022 2022-07-01T14:21:42Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36595 eng application/pdf Department of Environmental and Geographical Science Faculty of Science |
| spellingShingle | Environmental and Geographical Science Ntombini, Kolosa Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld |
| title_full | Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld |
| title_fullStr | Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld |
| title_short | Community development trusts: brokering property rights on ‘communal' land in the Richtersveld |
| title_sort | community development trusts brokering property rights on communal land in the richtersveld |
| topic | Environmental and Geographical Science |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36595 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ntombinikolosa communitydevelopmenttrustsbrokeringpropertyrightsoncommunallandintherichtersveld |