Singabantu bendawo: understanding the concept of land from the perspective of ubuntu

Abstract

The 54th national conference of the African National Congress, the ruling party in South Africa, resolved amongst other things to review the country’s constitution such that it enables the government to implement land expropriation without compensation. This resolution has faced an array of contestations, ranging from the question of the original owners of the land to that of ownership in relation to title deeds. However, the contestations seem to be premised on an understanding of identity as fixed and of land as a commodity. Whilst there is significant literature on the different understanding of identity and land from an African perspective, there is very little consideration of this worldview in the debates on land. It would seem that African societies are understood as a “field from which to mine raw data,” as Nhemachena has stated, but not as having fully developed knowledge systems that can inform the debates and discourses on land. The expression singabantu bendawo [we are people of this place], which was commonly used by community members of Esihlengeni in KwaZulu-Natal province, reveals an understanding of identity as fluid and of land as a place of belonging.