Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Sonwabile Mnwana
On patience and the burden of waiting: ‘Water cuts’ and local experiences in Makhanda, South Africa
Abstract Can people wait patiently without hope? The question remains partially interrogated in the growing literature on the experience and politics of waiting and the character of social agency among the poor in the Global South. The paper interrogates this question, drawing on a detailed case study on residents’ subjective experiences of waiting for state provision of water service, in the context of a mounting water crisis in Makhanda, South Africa.
South Africa: The Eastern Cape Is in a COVID-19 Crisis - Time to Mobilise Our Unemployed Youth
There are thousands of unemployed graduates and young people with matric certificates in the Eastern Cape. Why not turn the challenge of youth unemployment into an opportunity in the fight against Covid-19? Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has finally told us what we knew all along - the province's healthcare system "has been overwhelmed" by the surge in Covid-19 infections.
OPINIONISTA: The Eastern Cape is in a Covid-19 crisis – time to mobilise our unemployed youth
There are thousands of unemployed graduates and young people with matric certificates in the Eastern Cape. Why not turn the challenge of youth unemployment into an opportunity in the fight against Covid-19? Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has finally told us what we knew all along – the province’s healthcare system “has been overwhelmed” by the surge in Covid-19 infections.
OPINIONISTA: Deadly rural roads must be upgraded, now
The Centane bus tragedy in which 25 people died is an urgent wake-up call for the government – rural South Africa, and especially the former Transkei, still suffers from the deliberate underdevelopment of the apartheid era. We need good roads now if we are to avoid another bloodbath in the near future. The tragic bus accident that occurred on the dusty gravel road near Centane in the Eastern Cape on 2 March has added yet another dark cloud over South Africa.
Land reform doomed unless freed from political point-scoring
Picture: Leon Lestrade/African News Agency (ANA) Archives Black landlessness has become a convenient weapon for political populists in South Africa. With elections around the corner, the lingering questions about land reform are ever more crucial and timely. But, challenging questions need to be debated if a radical land reform programme is to be realised. The pace of land reform has been slow since South Africa’s first democratic elections 25 years ago.
Land Reform In South Africa Is Doomed Unless Freed From Political Point-Scoring
Villagers till their fields in South Africa’s North West Province. Access to land for small holder farmers remains unresolved. Epa/Jon Hrusa By Sonwabile Mnwana, University of Fort Hare Black landlessness has become a convenient weapon for political populists in South Africa. With elections around the corner, the lingering questions about land reform are ever more crucial and timely. But, challenging questions need to be debated if a radical land reform programme is to be realised.
A land debate left only to vote-hungry politicians is doomed
Cattle graze at a farm in Mpumalanga. Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters/African News Agency (ANA) Black landlessness has become a convenient weapon for political populists in South Africa. With elections around the corner, the lingering questions about land reform are ever more crucial and timely. But, challenging questions need to be debated if a radical land reform programme is to be realised. The pace of land reform has been slow since South Africa’s first democratic elections 25 years ago.
Land reform in SA is doomed unless freed from political point-sc
Villagers till their fields in South Africa’s North West province. Access to land for small holder farmers remains unresolved. Photo: Epa/Jon Hrusa Form here By: Sonwabile Mnwana, University of Fort Hare Black landlessness has become a convenient weapon for political populists in South Africa. With elections around the corner, the lingering questions about land reform are ever more crucial and timely. But, challenging questions need to be debated if a radical land reform programme is to be realised.
Land reform in South Africa is doomed unless freed from political point-scoring
Black landlessness has become a convenient weapon for political populists in South Africa. With elections around the corner, the lingering questions about land reform are ever more crucial and timely. But, challenging questions need to be debated if a radical land reform programme is to be realised. The pace of land reform has been slow since South Africa’s first democratic elections 25 years ago.
OPINION | Court ruling on mining huge win for villagers
PREMIUM A South African High Court has passed an important judgment putting a stop to the pervasive practice by companies to mine ancestral lands in rural areas without the villagers’ consent.
South Africa: Why South African Community's Win Against Mining Company Matters
analysis By Sonwabile Mnwana, University of Fort Hare A South African High Court has passed an important judgment putting a stop to the pervasive practice by companies to mine ancestral lands in rural areas without the villagers' consent. The case was brought by the community of rural UMgungundlovu, a small cluster of villages that fall under the Amadiba traditional authority on the largely undeveloped coast of the Eastern Cape Province. The place is also known as Xolobeni.
Why South African community's win against mining company matters
A South African High Court has passed an important judgment putting a stop to the pervasive practice by companies to mine ancestral lands in rural areas without the villagers’ consent. The case was brought by the community of rural UMgungundlovu, a small cluster of villages that fall under the Amadiba traditional authority on the largely undeveloped coast of the Eastern Cape Province. The place is also known as Xolobeni.
South African Court Resets Power Balance Between Villagers, Mines and Chiefs
analysis By Sonwabile Mnwana, University of Fort Hare South Africa's Constitutional Court recently passed an important judgment that's fundamentally challenged the power imbalance between mining companies and local communities in rural parts of the country. The Court ruled in favour of 13 families from the village of Lesetlheng in the north west against a platinum mine that evicted them from their farming land, as well as banned them from setting foot on it.
The Concourt has reset the power balance between villagers, mines and chiefs
The Constitutional Court recently passed an important judgment that’s fundamentally challenged the power imbalance between mining companies and local communities in rural parts of the country. The court ruled in favour of 13 families from the village of Lesetlheng in North West against a platinum mine that evicted them from their farming land, as well as banned them from setting foot on it.
South African court resets power balance between villagers, mines and chiefs
South Africa’s Constitutional Court recently passed an important judgment that’s fundamentally challenged the power imbalance between mining companies and local communities in rural parts of the country. The Court ruled in favour of 13 families from the village of Lesetlheng in the north west against a platinum mine that evicted them from their farming land, as well as banned them from setting foot on it.
Why giving South Africa’s chiefs more power adds to land dispossession
Power over rural land has become more and more concentrated in the hands of local chiefs in post-apartheid South Africa. This is particularly so in areas that are earmarked for mining. I have spent more than a decade studying the multiple impacts of platinum mining on rural communities in the North West and Limpopo provinces.
Africa: Why Giving South Africa's Chiefs More Power Adds to Land Dispossession
analysis By Sonwabile Mnwana, University of Fort HarePower over rural land has become more and more concentrated in the hands of local chiefs in post-apartheid South Africa. This is particularly so in areas that are earmarked for mining. I have spent more than a decade studying the multiple impacts of platinum mining on rural communities in the North West and Limpopo provinces.
Why giving South Africa's chiefs more power adds to land dispossession
Power over rural land has become more and more concentrated in the hands of local chiefs in post-apartheid South Africa. This is particularly so in areas that are earmarked for mining. I have spent more than a decade studying the multiple impacts of platinum mining on rural communities in the North West and Limpopo provinces.
Why giving SA’s chiefs more power adds to land dispossession
This is not as it should be. Distributive power over land doesn’t rest exclusively with chiefs. There are multiple layers of power that rest in different social units, families — and individuals within them. Most important, chiefs have never had powers to alienate land rights from ordinary residents. African land rights are acquired through membership to a group — a productive and social unit such as a family or clan. Once allocated, land rights were passed from one generation to the next.
Why giving SA’s chiefs more power adds to land dispossession
This is particularly so in areas that are earmarked for mining. I have spent more than a decade studying the multiple impacts of platinum mining on rural communities in the North West and Limpopo provinces. The research has revealed widespread grassroots discontent, significant resistance to mining expansion and to local chiefs, and mounting exclusive group claims over the platinum-rich land. This matters because mining affects the livelihoods of millions of South Africans.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Sonwabile
Contact Sonwabile, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack