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Rick has over 40 years experience working in the land sector in Southern Africa. He is part of the Land Portal knowledge engagement team working to research and develop knowledge resources including data stories, blogs and in-depth country profiles for Southern, Central and Eastern Africa.
Rick is also a Senior Research Associate with Phuhlisani NPC - a South African land sector NGO and the curator of specialist Southern African land news and analysis website https://knowledgebase.land
He tweets on land related issues Twitter account https://twitter.com/KnowledgebaseL
He has a PhD from the University of Cape Town. His research in Langa, Cape Town features as the central case study in a recent book Urban Planning in the Global South (2018), co-authored with the late Vanessa Watson, which examines the on-going contestations over land and housing in the rapidly growing cities of the global South.
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Data rescue of historical data on forced removals in South Africa
The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) research data service DataFirst is an internationally-certified African repository, having been awarded a CoreTrustSeal endorsement in 2018
A framework to scale citizen participation in urban development
This working paper summarises our understanding of a framework to support the scaling of participatory development in low-income urban neighbourhoods in the global South. The discussion addresses constraints that have previously been identified both in the academic literature and through social movements and support agencies seeking citizen inclusion. Our study demonstrates the importance of working with all key stakeholders, including organised communities, urban social movements, academics, professionals and City authorities.
How does climate exacerbate root causes of conflict in Zimbabwe?
Pathway #1: Food insecurity and competition over access and use of natural resources
(I) The effects of the climate crisis can impact food, land, and water systems in various ways, reducing their production and productivity, increasing food insecurity and potentially lead to conflict because of the reduced opportunity costs of participating in violent acts.
The 2015-19 multi year drought in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: it's evolution and impacts on agriculture
The Eastern Cape Province, and in particular, it's interior western Karoo region, has long been subject to periodic droughts, with significant implications for it's agricultural sector. From 2015, with some recovery in 2020, the area experienced a severe multi year drought, with negative impacts for a range of sectors, including extensive livestock farming. At the time of the drought, a common narrative in the media stated that the drought was unprecedented. In this paper, we analyze how the drought evolved climatically, as well as its impacts on vegetation and farming conditions.
Towards a holistic land law evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa:
Land laws provide a legal basis for addressing a country’s land-related strategies and are the central land policy instruments through which governments realise land policy objectives. Considering their vital role, it is imperative that land laws be evaluated to ensure that policy objectives are followed and that the laws are not ineffective or counterproductive. The extant literature, however, provides only a fragmentary basis for evaluation.
SA Parliament to consider a report on land expropriation without compensation
Parliament is scheduled to consider early next month the issue of the report that will recommend the amendment of the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation.
The Section 25 Committee adopted its report for tabling to the National Assembly in September.
The debate on the report was delayed when Parliament went into an early constituency period to allow parties to campaign for the local government elections.
South Africa - KwaZulu-Natal: Forensic audit call for the Ingonyama Trust Board
embers of parliament have called for a full forensic audit of the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) and for the entity to be placed under administration by the land reform ministry over its history of “delinquency” in failing to meet public finance management standards.
Burundi suspends multinational mining contracts
Eddy Claude Nininahazwe writing in Amjambo Africa! provides important background on the decision taken by President Evariste Ndayishimiye in July 2021 to suspend and renegotiate all foreign mining contracts in Burundi. Burundi has reserves of nickel, rare earth gold and coltan.
Land Matters: South Africa’s Failed Land Reforms and the Road Ahead
Dr Franklin Obeng-Odoom, Associate Professor in the Discipline of Global Development Studies at the University of Helsinki has recently reviewed a new book by one of South Africa's leading legal minds and land analysts Tembeka Ngcukaitobi . His review of Land Mattters: South Africa's Failed Land Reforms and the Road Ahead appears in the LSE Review of Books.
According to Obeng-Odoom Land Matters is outstanding. Some extracts from his review appear below.