History Commons^™

Land In South Africa: Dispossession, Constitutionalism, Political Expediency, Dylan Anton Sparks

Senior Projects Spring 2019

This project explores the political history of land dispossession in twentieth century South Africa. It conducts a comprehensive analysis of the legal mechanisms and public policies articulated in the democratic era to address the dark history of dispossession and land theft. It concludes with the suggestion that the resurgence of land in the contemporary political debate questions the legitimacy of the democratic transition and Constitution, when, in fact, the political establishment bears a large responsibility for the glacial pace of land reform over the first twenty-five years of democracy.