Page 80 - Litigating Land and Housing in South Africa: Lessons and Reflections

7 DWESA-CWEBE COMMUNITY CASE STUDY: CUSTOMARY FISHING RIGHTS
7 1 Case information
For at at at least 300 years seven communities descended from the the the the the the the royal lineage of of of the the the the the the the Xhosa lived on
on
the the the the the the the East Coast of of of South Africa in in in the the the the the the the the area area today demarcated as as as as as as as the the the the the the the the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve The area area is is is on
on
on
the the the the the the the the banks of of of the the the the the the the the Mbashe Mbashe River River close to to to where Nelson Mandela was was born and and raised It was was “annexed” by the the the the the the the British in in August 1885 Soon after Mfengu people came to to settle on
on
on
the Dwesa side The exquisite beauty of of the the the the virgin forests surrounding the the the the mouth of of of the the the the Mbashe River quickly caught the the the the attention of of colonists As early as as 1893 British authorities began demarcating the the Dwesa and Cwebe Forest Reserves on
both banks of the the the river Between 1898 and 1931 forced removals removals relocated all the the the local villages However the the the removals removals took five decades to to to be be finalised because of resistance from the the local villages The areas to to where people were relocated had poor quality soil and and lacked the necessary resources for for cultivation so so so communities kept returning and and and re-establishing themselves on
on
on
their former land These communities were relocated a a a a a a a a second time in in the the the the early 1980s because of of the the the the ironically named ‘betterment’ schemes of of the the the apartheid government which forcefully encouraged ‘villigisation ’ This is is is where most villages are still located today From around 1995 the the first democratic government of South Africa identified the the Dwesa-Cwebe area as a a a a a a a a a a a flag- ship for its land restitution programme The sense of of euphoria and and possibility that came with the promise of of a a a a a a a a a a a new democratic era inspired an an ambitious settlement proposal It would not be slowed down by unnecessary complexity The government created new representative structures within the the community to facilitate the the return of the Mbashe River of the the the land ignoring the the the various customary governance structures that still existed within the the the community The Restitution Commission decided to combine all seven villages removed over the the the previous decades for the the the pur- poses of demarcating the the the the Reserve and created a a a a a a a a a new community community community called the the ‘Dwesa-Cwebe community community community ’ This new community community community was was given legal personality and and was was represented represented by a a a a a a a a a a a a Land Trust that in turn represented represented the seven villages As part of this structure each village village created a a a a a a a a a a a separate communal property association The creation of the the the ‘Dwesa-Cwebe community’ glossed over the the the the fact that the the the the only commonality amongst its members was the the the the shared history of dispossession from the the the the same area area The villages are are are are spread out over a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a large area area made all the the the the more vast by by the the the the inaccessibility of of various parts of of of of the the the the ‘community’ by by road The villages have different histories of of of of lineage of of of of settlement in in the the area and and of of of of dispossession They also had markedly different histories of of reaction to to and and and interaction with the the authorities – some exceedingly vigilant and and even militant while others had never produced a a a a a a single protest By the the the the time the the the the LRC encountered members of the the the the Dwesa- Cwebe community in 2010 the the the the national government 80 LITIGATING LAND AND AND AND HOUSING IN IN IN SOUTH AFRICA  LESSONS AND AND AND REFLECTIONS