After the Apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa created a
new constitution that severely limited the government's ability to
expropriate land. 9 This led to the numerous laws passed by the white
minority to take land without compensation during the Apartheid.1o
However, the new constitution arguably brought about "victor's
justice."11 When Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, whites
owned 87% of the land despite representing less than 10% of the
population. 12 In 2003, eight years after the reform process began,
whites owned 70% of the land, but less than half of the claims had
been settled.13 However, by 2010, the white population again owned
7 9 % of the land.14 This unfortunate regression occurred because of
failed policies that began in the 1990s.
The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), the
African National Congress's blueprint for reform, created broad
plans for eliminating many of the inequalities- specifically, racial
and gender-fostered under the Apartheid.15 Unfortunately, the
program never identified any distinct strategies to fully combat the
serious land distribution crisis in South Africa.16 The program created
a "willing-buyer-willing-seller" principle "without direct
government involvement except as a facilitator to provide financialassistance."1 7 The plan also did not contemplate expropriation,
instead choosing to regard it as a last resort when the voluntary
market had not met the land demand. 18 As a result, South Africa
remains woefully behind its goal of redistributing 30% of the land in
the first five years after the fall of the Apartheid. 19
There are questions that need to be answered: How did we
get to this slow-moving system? What needs to be done to improve
it? Who is moving in the best direction? This Article will examine
these questions more clearly. Part I explores the history and status of
indigenous land rights in these countries. Part II analyzes how these
countries might move forward considering the current issues that
have arisen from their past policies. Finally, Part III concludes which
country is providing the best direction for solving the problems
natives face when attempting to acquire land.