​Last week, Prof Thuli Madonsela moderated a discussion with one of South Africa's brightest minds, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, author of The Land is Ours: South Africa's First Black Lawyers and the birth of Constitutionalism at another installment of the African Food Dialogues. This was a hybrid event viewed online via MS Teams and in person at the STIAS Wallenburg Research Centre.

The African Food Dialogues is an initiative of Stellenbosch University's Strategic Fund, implemented by the Southern Africa Food Lab in partnership with the Law Faculty and the Department of Agrisciences, with the purpose of fostering a space for dialogue and interaction around African food systems.

Ngcukaitobi traced the land issue from pre-colonialism through to today and considered some of the implications on current food systems. 

"Focusing on land reform is the ultimate guarantee of food security so that African people do not need to depend on crumbs from the masters' table," he said.

In answer to the question “What should we be doing now?", Ngcukaitobi referred to the tabling of the constitutional amendment for expropriation of land without compensation, saying, “We need to stop the gimmicks. The ANC has engaged this country in a monumental waste of time for four years debating an amendment that in itself is not necessary. There are people who made restitution claims in 1998. We need to start by resolving those."

Ngcukaitobi also made the point that land allocation tends to favour men and gender inequality is a major issue. In addition, he noted that tribal chiefs hold too much power when it comes to communal land ownership, “The true and beneficial owners of the land must be the people."

An additional challenge to communal land ownership, according to Ngcukaitobi, is a lack of access to capital. Because banks lend based on title deeds, it is difficult for communally owned land to access capital. “This policy must change. Alternative assets like cattle could be used as collateral. Banks should change their policies to support such people."

Contributing via the online chat, Rhoda Malgas, a lecturer in the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, noted that when we advocate for restitution of land, is it not incumbent upon us to advocate also for the restitution of the natural systems without which the land means very little." 

Visit www.southernafricafoodlab.org or follow @SAFoodLab on Twitter for more information on the African Food Dialogues.