Urban land claims in South Africa: the case of Lady Selborne township, Pretoria, Gauteng

Abstract

Racia l d i s c r i m i n a t i o n and segrega t ion have b e e n in t eg ra l c o m p o n e n t s of South Afr ican h i s t o r y s ince the a r r iva l of whi te se t t le rs . By c o n q u e s t and expans ion , i n d i g e n o u s people were d isp laced . Despi te this , the legal s y s t e m c o n t i n u e d to a l low the poss ib i l i ty , h o w e v e r remote , t ha t Af r i c an l a n d o w n e r s h i p cou ld e x p a n d . After 1913, h o w e v e r , the s i t u a t i o n a l t e red b e c a u s e the Nat ives Land Act p a s s e d t ha t yea r d r a s t i ca l l y r e s t r i c t e d Afr ican access to land. F r o m tha t t ime o n w a r d s , Afr ican l a n d o w n e r s h i p was i n c r e a s i n g l y cur ta i l ed , a nd by the t ime of the Na t iona l i s t e lec t ion v i c to ry in 1948, a p l e tho ra of l eg i s la t ion app l ied rac ia l ly d i s c r i m i n a t o r y r e s t r i c t i o n s bo th in r u r a l a nd u r b a n areas . But af ter tha t date , the g o v e r n m e n t i n t r o d u c e d more exhaus t i ve a nd m e t i c u l o u s r ac i s t l eg i s l a t ion w h i c h i m p a c t e d d i rec t ly on the l ives of all ' n o n w h i t e ' South Afr icans 'Co loured ' , I n d i a n , Malay , Chinese a nd African. Thus ,