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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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GMOs: Entrenching Kenya’s Food Insecurity
Land Governance Priorities for the New Administration in Kenya
On Tuesday, 13 September 2022, H.E. Dr William Ruto took his oath of office and began his term as the fifth president of the Republic of Kenya. In his inauguration speech, the president purposed to hit the ground running and lead Kenyans on a path of economic transformation and in the days following he confirmed his intention with action. The new administration introduced policy changes that gave us an idea of how the next five years will be.
Lands minister declares all leases null and void
A top official in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has declared illegal all leases where land is being used by bibanja holders.
Mr Sam Mayanja, the junior Lands minister, says evictions of lessees (tenants) by district land boards should stop forthwith.
The minister particularly called out the Buganda Land Board (BLB), accusing it of mixing up and managing all land in Buganda yet some of it is owned by individuals.
Land Reform: South Africa Considers Land Issue Under Traditional Leadership
The South African government is considering various options regarding the contentious matter of land under traditional leadership and part of the land tenure system including Ingonyama Trust, said Deputy President David Mabuza.
Goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 out of reach, report says
The world is unlikely to meet a longstanding goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, the World Bank has said, citing the effects of “extraordinary” shocks to the global economy, including the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Tanzania: TotalEnergies Pipeline Project Questioned By NGOs For Human Rights Violations
The scenery changes, the story remains the same: in Tanzania, the construction of the pipeline intended to evacuate the oil extracted by TotalEnergies on the shores of Lake Albert, in Uganda, baptized East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop), also accompanies large-scale human rights violations, according to the investigation made public on Wednesday October 5 by Les Amis de la Terre and Survie, the two NGOs behind, with four Ugandan associations, the lawsuit brought against the French major for non-compliance with the law on the duty of vigilance of large companies with regard to their subs
The mine leak was bad. The DRC and Angola’s response are no better, report says
- In July 2021, an Angolan diamond mine leaked large amounts of polluted water into the Kasai River Basin which stretches across Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Twelve people were killed, a further 4,400 fell ill and an estimated 1 million more were affected by the polluted water.
- Fourteen months later, the DRC government has not released full results of tests conducted on the rivers, but a ban on drinking the water from the Kasai and Tshikapa rivers remains in place.
African climate summit opens in DR Congo
The talks in the DRC's capital, Kinshasa, are informal but meant to allow various countries and green groups to take stock of political positions ahead of COP27 -- the United Nations climate gathering of world leaders in Egypt next month.
Environment ministers from about 50 countries will gather in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday for a "pre-COP27" climate summit, with rich nations likely to come under pressure to raise spending to combat climate change.
Regional court dismisses Maasai eviction case against Tanzania
Rights groups said Friday’s ruling sends a dangerous message that Indigenous peoples can be evicted from their land in the name of conservation.