Eastern Cape: LARC's workshop on land, governance, and mining

The Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) hosted community workshops on the theme of Land, Governance and Mining in the Eastern Cape, Chris Hani and Amathole District Municipalities.

The purpose of the workshops was to continue with LARC’s work that focuses on the protection of customary land rights in South Africa. The objective was to equip communities with knowledge about their land rights, traditional governance and issues around mining and compensation. It was also to allow space for communities to learn more about the complex situations faced by other communities in the different parts of the province.

The workshops’ content was specifically designed for each district to introduce participants to case studies that illustrate the depth of mining, communal land governance, and tenure security in South Africa. This resulted in a rigorous and impactful educational experience for rural communities.

Forty representatives from various rural communities in the Chris Hani District Municipality attended the workshop on July 11–13, 2023. Thirty delegates from rural areas surrounding East London, the central north of the Eastern Cape Province, and the coastal regions came together for a workshop held in the Amathole District Municipality on November 30 and 2, 2023.

In light of the themes, each day unpacked key policies and laws including their wider implications. Workshop facilitators guided the participants through some contextual realities and also allowed them to work on activities independently. The final days’ sessions focused on how the attendees could apply and impart the knowledge they had gained from the workshop in their communities. Three civil society organizations in the province, the Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD), Vulamasango, and the Border Rural Committee (BRC), joined and discussed how they could help support the communities.

Given that tenure insecurity remains a threat to the livelihood of  rural communities, LARC hopes to expand this initiative to other provinces across the country.