Seminar: Land Rights, Restitution and Local Control over Development in Coastal Mpondoland

This seminar addresses a limited set of issues around land rights, the restitution cases and the mining case in 2018. Key issues are who ‘owns’ the land in these areas, where a form of customary tenure is still in place, and who can, and should, make decisions about development strategies? Who should share in the benefits that may accrue? .The role of government and chiefs in relation to rural communities are important here. So is the distinctive environmental diversity and value of the ‘wild coast’, although environmental questions will not be a significant focus for the talk. The seminar will address briefly modes of research that could give voice to local and community priorities as well as how best to assemble existing research and make research resources available.

Delivered by Professor William Beinart
William Beinart, formerly Rhodes Professor of Race Relations (1997-2015), is emeritus professor at St Antony’s College and the African Studies Centre. He served as chair of the Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies, Dean of the College, Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford and President of the ASAUK. In 2009 he was elected to the British Academy. His research has focussed largely on the history of rural society in South Africa and on environmental history, on which he has published widely and to critical acclaim.