TAKING THE TRADITIONAL AND KHOI-SAN LEADERSHIP ACT 3 OF 2019 TO COURT
Dateline: JOHANNESBURG, October 29
Following intensive consultations and discussions with rural people and members of traditional communities in five provinces, the Stop The Bantustans Campaign, an initiative of the Alliance for Rural Democracy together with allied individuals, organizations and movements will now turn to the courts to protect the customary land rights of citizens in the former Bantustans.
Despite the progressive provisions of this Act in giving statutory recognition to Cape-Khoi, Griqua, Koranna, Nama or San people, or any subgrouping thereof – the TKLA poses a threat to how black land rights holders, especially rural women will be able to participate in decision-making processes on natural resources and rural governance in traditional communities.
The Alliance for Rural Democracy has repeatedly engaged law and policy makers including Parliament and respective provincial legislatures on introducing a law that will not infringe on the existing rights of black rural people. This is not an attack on traditional leaders, traditional communities or any member of the Khoi and San communities (or subgroup thereof). We have prepared several public education materials in eight languages known to the communities that we work with so that we remain as inclusive as possible and these materials clearly set out the reasons for the court challenge.
We want to promote and protect existing land rights that we currently hold – many of which are under direct attack on a daily basis by large-scale land deals and land-based developments. That is the difficult position of many rural people that we work with; for these reasons we must challenge TKLA. We have been working on the ground to keep many rural people that support this court challenge informed of the process to date and give updates on the status of the court case. We demand the equality that our forebears were promised after 1994. We will not sit silent as our geography is used to determine our rights – we demand One South Africa for ALL!
For more information or direct media liaison:+27 66 132 5909 or +27 82 559 0632
Email: info@stopthebantustanbills.org
Visit https://stopthebantustansbills.org.za
