Browsing by Author "Mammon, Nisa"

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    Energy and environmental challenges in Southern Africa: The case of South Africa
    (1995) Mammon, Nisa; Simmonds, Gillian; van Horen, Clive
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    Perspectives on Urban Land Restitution: what constitutes good enough?
    (2014) Duncan, Kyla; Mammon, Nisa
    The amendment of the Restitution of Land Rights Act (no. 2 of 1996) has reopened the period for lodging a land claim in South Africa until 2019. The previous period for lodging a claim closed in 1998 but claims lodged over 20 years have still not been attended to. There exists a concern that with the re-opening of land restitution within both rural and urban spaces, that previous claims will not be seen to, while new claims will take years to resolve. This is unacceptable. How can the process of land restitution be better managed, conducted and performed so as to fulfil the requirements and goals of land restitution –reconciliation and social justice. The focus of this research turns to the urban space in the Western Cape through a purposefully selected case study of a successful land claim. South African cities and human settlements are growing, with South Africa being the most urbanised country in Africa. The competition for urban space will increase in time. With the demand for land being the contextual reality, urban land restitution needs to position itself in relation to South Africa’s dispossessing past. Through a qualitative research approach, a single case study of urban land restitution was used through which to answer the research questions: what constitutes good enough in relation to land restitution in a competitive urban environment? Findings revealed that urban land restitution is complex, with multiple layers, multiple actors and multiple challenges. It exists in a fine balance of factors influenced by competing agendas. Good enough in this space covers communication, recognition of individuals, respect and action. It entails a three dimensional process and accounts for change in people, place and space over time. Recommendations relating to these findings are themselves pitched at multiple levels from the national to the city space and at more general concerns. Recommendations attempt to promote good enough in a complex urban land restitution environment for the future.
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    The urban land question : management and access for the urban poor in post apartheid South Africa
    (2011) Mammon, Nisa; Parnell, Susan
    The premise of the thesis is that the developmental use of urban land should be ethical, fair and promote social justice. Using multiple research approaches and mixed methods this thesis examines the urban land question in South Africa and particularly Cape Town where land distribution and ownership are inequitable. The thesis unpacks land redistribution, land tenure reform and land restitution within this context. It is argued that the South African Constitution commits government to protect the property rights of those who currently own property and at the same time redistribute land to those who have been dispossessed and explores what this tension means for urban land redistribution and reform using the freedoms approach developed by Amartya Sen as a conceptual framework and as alternative to the neo-classical model. The main findings of the thesis can be summarized as follows. a) The thesis demonstrates that there is no logical reason why the freedoms approach cannot be extended to include urban land. b) The entitlements and endowments that urban land could bestow on the urban poor are shaped by how the State invests in land through the instruments of land planning and land use management which call for a significant role for the State as custodian of public land to not only make explicit the land asset register under public ownership but also instill trust in the poorer sectors of urban society. c) A two track system of land planning and land use management may be more appropriate in the post apartheid South African city, one stream for market driven land and one for targeted public land programmes that directly address urban poverty provided that the State is able to make strong connections between the philosophical and the technical aspects of land and land use management systems. d) As a two track system is suggested the land use management system requires to be reframed. To facilitate land redistribution and reform in urban areas of South Africa therefore, the thesis suggests that a deliberative and systemic planning approach needs to be adopted that is intervention focused. Only when the State assumes a more critical interventionist role in public land programmes would it be possible to obtain social justice and the principles of the good city in the South African urban context. e) Gaining access to and control over land resources beyond the market is possible but limiting for the majority of the urban poor when land and housing debates are conflated. This conflation results in other land debates being silenced yet these have the potential to offer alternatives to the neo-classical model of land and land use management as well as promote a wider role for public land than just housing.