Submission on Restitution of Land
Rights Amendment Bill [B35-2013]
Ri’aad Dollie
to
Portfolio Committee on Rural
Development and Land Reform
Parliament, 29 January 2012
1901
The first forced
removal of African
residents from
District Six using the
Public Health Act of
1897 after outbreak
of Bubonic Plague
1. Fully support the extension of the
date for submissions of land claims
• Public response to date – case of D6
• A land claim is generational work
• Complicated nature of investigating and
assembling documentation in support of a
land claim
• Inadequate support in government
departments
• Inadequate guidelines to citizens
Recommendation
• Extension of deadline for submissions be
announced through comprehensive media and
education campaign aimed especially at the
youth
• Media and education campaign should run for
the duration of the extension period
• Implementation plan to include training of Legal
and Archival workers to initiate proactive
research projects and to support citizens’
research
2. Constitution only entertains land
claims post 1913 Land Act
• The Act excludes colonial dispossession
• Formation of the Union of South Africa in
1910 was a process, not an event
• Excludes the evolution of Apartheid in urban
settlements e.g. plagues used as excuse to
forcibly prevent land use and remove black
people
• Erosion of qualified franchise and access to
higher education to curtail black mobility
Recommendation
• The Constitution be amended to
accommodate land claims prior to 1913, not
by exception or behind closed doors, but
through public channels
• Parliament is the correct forum for that
debate
Thank you