Includes how land is currently identified and acquired; recognising and responding to demand; what do we know about land needs?; innovative ways of working with needs / demand and supply; land prices; towards alternatives; conclusion; recommendations.

A report on the Pan African Land Hearing held in Johannesburg on 15 August. Representatives of rural communities affected by land grabs in 9 African countries (Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe) presented testimony to a panel of experts, including the Pan African Parliament, showing how the theme of gender permeated every case.

An overview of land reform in South Africa, containing the integration of land reform and agricultural development; defining policy agenda; squaring circles – restitution, land rights, redistribution, the contradictions of land reform; going back to the beginning – reviewing reforms, land reform in historical and comparative perspectives; the ironies of the new – transferring land, policies, plans and outcomes.

Whatever the prevailing terminology and ideologies, there is now ample evidence that large swathes of African farmland are being allocated to investors, usually on long-term leases, at a rate not seen for decades – indeed, not since the colonial period. The fact that much of this land is being acquired to provide for the future food and fuel needs of foreign nations has, not surprisingly, led to allegations that a neo-colonial push by more wealthy and powerful nations is underway to annex the continent’s key natural resources.

Comprises background and research objectives, literature review, research methodology, research findings, conclusions and recommendations. Believes that local authorities should be sensitized to the urgent need to bring sustainable and just resolution to intra-household disputes as there is a tendency for these to result in violence against women disputants. Dispute resolution bodies may be more successful if they adopt mediation approaches and work with men to understand why gender equal land rights can serve their interests as well.

Research sought to evaluate the determinants of urban land markets, to analyse trends in urban land markets and values, and to assess impacts of urban land prices and policies. Concludes that if current land policies are not reformed there is a risk of increased negative impacts on the poor and more low-income people will be exposed to displacement to areas away from the urban centres which could cause social instability and an increase of informal settlements in suburbs.

Includes methodology, literature review, legal analysis, experiences and rights to land of women in de facto unions in Rwanda, root causes of de facto unions, the costs of illegitimacy, recommendations for strengthening the rights of women in de facto unions. Until policy and law protect the rights of women in de facto unions and people accept women in de facto unions as legitimate wives and contributors to household prosperity, they will continue to be chased away by their husbands or families-in-law, and endure the resulting negative economic, health, and social consequences.

Looks at agricultural leasehold rights, freehold tenure and land markets, foreign land ownership and tenure security, rentals and sharing of redistributed land, modifying customary rights, gender and class relations, farm workers, land administration and tenure security.

Includes food insecurity and its consequences, unemployment, household incomes and expenditure, the food expenditure gap, nutritional programmes, land reform and food security.

Covers introduction, farm workers in South Africa, tenure security for farm workers with a focus on ESTA – including the justice system, farmers’ responses and women farm workers; equity share schemes; rural housing and land redistribution; lessons to and from South Africa.

Land reform is one way in which the ‘new’ South Africa set out to redress the injustices of apartheid and, by redistributing land to black South Africans, to transform the structural basis of racial inequality. During the first decade of democracy, land reform has fallen far short of both public expectations and official targets. This article describes the progress of the programme and its changing nature.

Closing statement from workshop on culture, practice and law: women’s access to land in Rwanda. Contains recommendations on the marriage problem, the inheritance law, land scarcity and population growth, the land policy and the bill, the environment, discrimination.