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Claims from below: platinum and the politics of land in the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela traditional authority area

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  • Gavin Capps
  • Sonwabile Mnwana

Abstract

Drawing on a detailed study of three village-level disputes in the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela traditional authority area, this article explores how intensifying land struggles on the platinum belt around Rustenburg are being mediated through conflicts over group boundaries and identities, and how this in turn is articulating a potentially new yet contradictory rural class politics. In a context where chiefly authorities are themselves becoming major shareholders in local mining operations, the burning question is whether the ‘tribe’ should be treated as the only legitimate African land-holding unit, or whether the collective ownership of mineralised land should reside in smaller socio-political groups, typically claiming decent from its original buyers. The article finds that while contested constructions of rural ‘community’ are emerging as a significant means of defending or advancing popular claims over landed resources, these corporate forms of organisation are simultaneously riven by gender, generational and other social divisions, and are prone to replicating the tribalist logics they seek to challenge. The attempt to establish private property rights through more exclusionary group definitions may therefore also act as an equally divisive force against those labelled ‘outsiders’, not least migrant mineworkers.

Suggested Citation

  • Gavin Capps & Sonwabile Mnwana, 2015. "Claims from below: platinum and the politics of land in the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela traditional authority area," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(146), pages 606-624, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:revape:v:42:y:2015:i:146:p:606-624
    DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2015.1108746
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    Cited by:

    1. Leonard, Llewellyn, 2019. "Traditional leadership, community participation and mining development in South Africa: The case of Fuleni, Saint Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 290-298.
    2. Gracelin Baskaran, 2021. "Firms’ approach to mitigating risks in the platinum group metals sector," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 34(3), pages 385-398, October.
    3. Olofsson, Malin, 2021. "Expanding commodity frontiers and the emergence of customary land markets: A case study of tree-crop farming in Venda, South Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

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