Rethinking communal land administration

This report, a summary of the substantial challenges that continue to plague South Africa’s efforts to reform land administration system, proposes that key decision-makers and informers involved in communal land administration undergo a mindshift in thinking. This shift should be from focusing exclusively on transferring communal land to traditional leaders, Common Property Institutions and private individuals, to recognising and accommodating existing forms of social tenure. This can be achieved by introducing a nationally constituted and locally administered land records system that sits alongside and complements the existing land registration system (that involves the Surveyor General’s office and the deeds registration system). The proposed alternatives are based on both practical experience and theoretical insights.

This report was prepared with Afesis-Corplan.