Land reform in South Africa: Mandela’s impact and a look ahead

Land reform in South Africa: Mandela’s impact and a look ahead
Land reform in South Africa: Mandela’s impact and a look ahead

Land reform in South Africa: Mandela’s impact and a look ahead

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During colonialism and apartheid in South Africa, repressive white governments violently seized thousands of acres from Africans without just compensation. At independence, African liberation parties struck a deal with the Apartheid government: Whites would keep their jobs and property, and the African majority was promised land reform. But Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Kent College of Law professor Bernadette Atuahene says that many blacks who expected big results were sorely disappointed. She says that almost 20 years later, only eight percent of land has changed hands. Atuahene joins us to discuss Nelson Mandela’s legacy as it relates to land reform and shares her thoughts on the future of land reform in South Africa now that Mandela has passed. Her forthcoming book is We Want What’s Ours: Learning from Land Restitution in South Africa. (Photo: Flickr/Dmitriy Fomenko)