LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH-AFRICA, 1991-94

Recent political developments in South Africa have resulted in a re-ev aluation of the position of the individuals and communities who were f orcibly removed from their land under apartheid. The first moves at re storing land to the dispossessed took place between 1991 and 1994 in a pragmatic manner. A number of significant acts of restitution were ef fected with the return of several African rural communities to the lan d from which they had been forcibly removed. In two areas no progress was made. First, the resolution of urban claims was postponed because of their complexity and numbers. Second, indigenous land claims were e ffectively rejected as presenting too contentious an issue at a time w hen fostering a sense of national unity was considered essential.