South Africa

by Susanne Carter and Ken Jones

A New Start

Following the dissolution in 2005 of a network that was unable to prioritize its many diverse issues, a new "Joining Hands" effort was initiated in January 2006. Representatives of six organizations from several regions of the country met for three days in Johannesburg. Each group was concerned with achieving land justice in the South African context. The legacies of centuries of colonialism and then decades of apartheid have left the vast majority of South Africans deprived of access to or ownership of arable land. This landlessness is one of the major root causes of hunger and poverty.

The Leadership Team

Christopher Saaiman is the young pastor of the Congregational Church in Pacaltsdorp in the Southern Cape, where many parishioners are descendants of the aboriginal Outeniqua San people. Ancestral land in the region is being earmarked for golf courses and luxury estates, displacing modest homes and farms in the process. Philemon Talane is a minister in the Church of the Nazarene and a staff member of the Nkuzi Development Association in far-north Limpopo Province, where the eviction of Sotho-speaking workers and families from farms has left many homeless. Mati Mathabatha, also from Limpopo, comes from the Landless Peoples' Movement, a grass roots effort to force the ANC government to speed up the process of land reform. Welile Sigabi is a Methodist pastor and experienced trainer in methods of permaculture (permanent agriculture) for rural Xhosa villages. Ray Magida serves in the Anglican Diocese of Grahamstown (Eastern Cape), where he leads efforts to transfer unused land owned by church entities into the hands of impoverished local communities. Angela Conway, an advocate for the economic empowerment of rural women through the Southern Cape Land Committee, joined the leadership team in March.

"What is Land?"

Early on, this core group held an extended discussion on the question, "What is land?". From the collected wisdom of five languages and cultures, the following definitions emerged: land is - food - water - security - life - dignity - gift - identity. Imagine being deprived of all these things and you get a sense of what it means to be landless in South Africa today.

Sisonke Masilwe Indlala

In its first year, the new network, named Sisonke Masilwe Indlala (Xhosa for "Together Let Us Fight Against Hunger", SMI), has pursued its purpose: "to share experiences and insights in search of locally appropriate alternative models that empower poor people". Gatherings have been held in each of the regions represented, and organizations have led workshops in areas of their expertise: training local villages in permaculture; advocating for the rights of farm workers; lobbying various levels of government on behalf of the landless poor.

Accompaniment by the Western Reserve JH Team

In April 2006 the SMI network hosted a delegation of six from the Presbytery of the Western Reserve (Cleveland, Ohio), taking the visitors to places like Polokwane and Mooiplaas and Mdantsane to experience land injustice first hand.

The coordinating team in Cleveland is preparing to welcome a delegation from South Africa in September 2007, and is working to learn more about land justice issues in the US, including local conservancy challenges and the national Farm Bill coming before Congress early in the new year.

JH Companionship Facilitators

Companionship Facilitators Susanne Carter and Ken Jones completed their term with Joining Hands at the end of 2006. The recruitment and appointment of a new CF is pending.