Communal Land Rights Act Needs to Be Revised

The Communal Land Rights Act of 2004 (CLaRA) provides for “legal security of tenure by transferring communal land … to communities.” Based on the wishes of the community, the Act also seeks to accommodate traditional leadership. According to CLaRA, communal land is “land which is, or is to be, occupied or used by members of a community subject to the rules or custom of that community.” Within communal lands families have individual plots and other community members recognise the family’s right to use the land. As a member of the traditional community, the family may also have access to grazing land. Today, most communal land is state land that previously was part of the homeland system as well as land held by the Kwa-Zulu Natal Ingonyama Trust.

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