Who Owns the Land? A Right to Development Inquiry into Land Insecurities in Africa

Abstract

This article illustrates that discourses on the insecurity or security of tenure in Africa have always centred on the questions of ownership, entitlement, access to and use of land—particularly when viewed in the context of historical injustices of colonial land dispossession and the ongoing practices of land grabbing that persist across the continent. The discussion focuses on the question: Who owns the land in Africa for which security of tenure is being sought? When compared with the universally guaranteed right to development, including for all the peoples of Africa as affirmed in Article 22 of the African Charter, the argument supports legitimate, legally grounded claims for land repossession. In conclusion, it is argued that if development justice is to be achieved, the discourse on security of land tenure in Africa should, at a minimum, support claims for land redistribution without compensation and uphold Indigenous ownership rights to ancestral lands. This is vital to ensure that, where dispossessed peoples are unable to recover their land, they are at least recognised as the legitimate owners and are thus entitled to reparations, compensation and/or lifetime royalties payable by the foreign occupiers.