Reversing the Legacy

Commemorating 100 years since the prolific Natives Land Act of 1913 which saw 7%  of land to the black majority (later increased to 13% through the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act of South Africa) and the remaining 87% to the white minority, the act also restricted land ownership and can be summed up in Sol Plaatje's quote: 

"Awaking on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth,"

A travelling exhibition organised by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is currently being held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre until Sunday 29 June 2013 to mark the act and its subsequent legacy. The exhibition takes visitors through 100 years of depicted through re-enactments through performance, installations, podcasts, visual work and well researched and written text. 

It was interesting to see how families interacted with the space, as elders took their children and grandchildren around the exhibition, interrogating the complex issue of dispossession and displacement. 

Zapiro Cartoon sourced from: www.mg.co.za

Whilst we need to address the reversal of the discriminatory policies and practises that followed the enforcement of the Land Act, the underlying issue remains how we account for and recognise the associated pain of injustice and its legacy on the fabric of our society.

"Land reform is more than giving out hectares of land, it is about rebuilding our nation" - Derek Hanekom

The following form the basis of the land reform measures outlined in the White Paper on South African Land Policy which seeks to redress the legacy of the past:
1. Land Tenure: to bring all people occupying land under a unitary, legally validated system of landholding
2. Land Redistribution: to enable poor or disadvantaged people to buy land with the help of a Settlement/ Land Acquisition Act
3. Land Restitution: to return land to, or compensate victims for land lost since 19 June 1913, as a result of racially discriminatory laws

The pain of displacement and dispossession needs to be acknowledged, we need to acknowledge the past and the legacy on our society today as we navigate ourselves as individuals and the relationship we have to land and our ever changing society.

The free exhibition is a must see for all and continues until 29 June 2013 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre