Submission to the portfolio committee for land and agriculture: The communal land rights bill

Abstract

The National Land Committee (NLC) and the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) of the University of the Western Cape have been funded by DfID UK (Department for International Development) to undertake a process of community consultation around the Communal Land Rights bill. The project began in August 2003 and has engaged in consultation with representatives from over 90 rural communities in the different provinces of South Africa. Various rural non-governmental organisations have been partners in the process of convening rural consultation meetings. These including AFRA, AnCRA, Masifunde, Nkuzi, TRAC North West, and TRALSO. This submission is made on behalf of the joint PLAAS/NLC project and reflects the lessons the project has learnt about the bill during the consultation process. Land NGOs and rural communities will make their own submissions directly to the portfolio committee.