Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T02:41:36.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The nature of the land: the Dukuduku forest and the Mfolozi flats, KwaZulu-Natal*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2013

Knut G. Nustad  and
Frode Sundnes
Knut G. Nustad*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
Frode Sundnes
Affiliation:
Norwegian University of Life Science, Noragric, PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Green-grabbing has recently been suggested as a label for describing processes of dispossessions undertaken in the name of conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. For the case examined here, the Dukuduku forest and the Mfolozi flats in northern KwaZulu-Natal, we will argue that the label obscures more than it helps illuminate the complex processes leading up to the present-day struggle over land rights. The land in question has been subjected to a number of different land uses in the past: hunting, conservation, commercial agriculture and small-scale agriculture. We show how contestation over desirable future land use options lies at the heart of the problems raised by an ongoing land claim to the forest.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 487 - 506
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Knut G. Nustad wishes to acknowledge support from the Norwegian Research Council, project no 204370, for part of the research on which this article is based, while Frode Sundnes acknowledges support from the Norwegian Research Council, project no 178798, the Nordic Africa Institute and Nansenfondet of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Both authors have contributed equally to the research on which this article is based, as well as in writing the article.

References

REFERENCES

Agrawal, A. & Redford, K.. 2009. ‘Conservation and displacement: an overview’, Conservation and society 7, 1: 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beinart, W. & Bundy, C.. 1987. Hidden Struggles in Rural South Africa: Politics & Popular Movements in the Transkei & Eastern Cape 1890–1930. London: James Curry.Google Scholar
Benjaminsen, T. A. & Bryceson, I.. 2012. ‘Conservation, green/blue grabbing and accumulation by dispossession in Tanzania’, Journal of Peasant Studies 39, 2: 335–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, C. 2010. ‘Acrimonious stakeholder politics: reconciliation and redevelopment in District Six’, in Walker, C. et al. , eds. Land, Memory, Reconstruction and Justice: perspectives on land claims in South Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 143–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohlin, A. 2010. ‘Choosing cash over land in Kalk Bay and Knysna: the time factor in urban land claims’, in Walker, C. et al. , eds. Land, Memory, Reconstruction and Justice: perspectives on land claims in South Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 116–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, S. 2000. ‘Re-reading the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi game reserve: constructions of a “natural” space’, Transformation 44: 63–79.Google Scholar
Brooks, S. 2001. Changing nature: a critical historical geography of the Umfolozi and Hluhluwe game reserves, 1887 to 1947. Kingston, ON: Queen's University. PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Brooks, S. 2005. ‘Images of “Wild Africa”: nature tourism and the (re)creation of Hluhluwe game reserve, 1930–1945’, Journal of Historical Geography 31, 2: 220–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunn, D. 1996. ‘Comparative barbarism: game reserves, sugar plantations, and the modernization of South African landscape’, in Darian-Smith, K., Gunner, L. & Nuttall, S., eds. Text, Theory, Space: land literature and history in South Africa and Australia. London: Routledge, 37–52.Google Scholar
Carruthers, J. 1995. The Kruger National Park: a social and political history. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.Google Scholar
Copley, G. J. 2009. Shifts in environmental policy making discourses: the management of the St Lucia estuary mouth. Durban: University of KwaZulu-Natal. MSc thesis.Google Scholar
Fay, D. 2007. ‘Struggles over resources and community formation at Dwesa-Cwebe, South Africa’, International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management 3: 88–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fay, D. & James, D.. 2009. ‘Restoring what was ours: an introduction’, in Fay, D. & James, D., eds. The Rights and Wrongs of Land Restitution: ‘restoring what was ours’. Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Garden, S. 2008. Wetland geomorphology and floodplain dynamics on the hydrologically variable Mfolozi River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Durban: University of KwaZulu-Natal. PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Hall, R. & Ntsebeza, L. 2007. ‘Introduction’, in Ntsebeza, L. & Hall, R., eds. The Land Question in South Africa: the challenge of transformation and redistribution. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 1–26.Google Scholar
Heaton Nicholls, G. 1961. South Africa in My Time. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Hellum, A. & Derman, B.. 2008. ‘Historical justice and socio-economic development: tensions in South Africa's land restitution programme’, Forum for Development Studies, 35, 1: 61–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, D. 2007. Gaining Ground? ‘Rights’ and ‘property’ in South African land reform. Oxford: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahiff, E. 2008. Land Reform in South Africa: a status report. Cape Town: PLAAS.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, J. M. 1988. The Empire of Nature: hunting, conservation and British imperialism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
McCracken, D. P. 2008. Saving the Zululand Wilderness: an early struggle for nature conservation. Auckland Park: Jacana Media.Google Scholar
Merrett, P. L. 1991. ‘Introduction’, in Merrett, P. L. & Butcher, R., eds. Robert Briggs Struthers Hunting Journal 1852–1856 in the Zulu kingdom and the Tsonga region. Durban: Killie Campell Africana Library, 11–59.Google Scholar
Minnaar, A. de V. 1989. ‘Early floods in Zululand’, in Lantern. Foundation for Education, Science and Technology, South Africa, 3–10, Accessed at St Lucia Document Collection, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Doc. no 789.Google Scholar
Minnaar, A. d. V. 1992. uShukela – A history of the growth and development of the sugar industry in Zululand: 1905 to present. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council.Google Scholar
Neumann, R. P. 1998. Imposing Wilderness: struggles over livelihood and nature preservation in Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nustad, K. G. 2011a. ‘Performing natures and land in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa’, Ethnos 76, 1: 88–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nustad, K. G. 2011b. ‘Property, rights and community in a South African land-claim case’, Anthropology Today 27, 1: 20–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sundnes, F. 2013a. ‘The past in the present: struggles over land and community in relation to the Dukuduku claim for land restitution, South Africa’, Forum for Development Studies 40, 1: 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sundnes, F. 2013b. ‘Scrubs and squatters: the coming of the Dukuduku forest, an indigenous forest in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’, Environmental History 18, 2: 277–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Merwe, W. 1984. ‘Die Vestiging Van Blankes in Zoeloeland Vanaf 1897 Tot 1936’. Pretoria: University of South Africa. Doctoral thesis.Google Scholar
Walker, C. 2007. ‘Unsettled: re-imagining positionality and place’. University of Stellenbosch, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Inaugural lecture.Google Scholar
Walker, C. 2008. Landmarked: land claims and land restitution in South Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
West, P., Igoe, J. & Brockington, D.. 2006. ‘Parks and peoples: the social impact of protected areas’, Annual Review of Anthropology 35: 251–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, R. A. 2001. The politics of truth and reconciliation in South Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Interviews

Cooper, K. Former director of Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, Durban 08.10.2008.

Hopwood, N. Chairman of Monzi/Futululu Pro-active Landowners Association, Monzi 08.07.2009.

Perry, N. former employee of South African Forestry Company Ltd. (SAFCOL) written communication 21.11.2009.

Unpublished sources

AFRA. 2002. Dukuduku Research Project. Final Report. Pietermaritzburg: Association for Rural Advancement.

AFRA. 2006. del Grande, L. (AFRA) to KwaZulu-Natal Regional Land Claims Commission (RLCC), 21·08. 2006. Pietermaritzburg: Association for Rural Advancement.

AFRA. 2008. Community Meeting Report. 06.07.2008. Pietermaritzburg: Association for Rural Advancement.

Blewitt, W. M. ‘Preliminary investigation, Monzi/St Lucia’, 18 April 1989, Annexure A in Natal Provincial Administration (NPA) to Regional Director of Forestry, Dept. of Environmental Affairs, ‘Farm Duku No. 14866’, 24.04.1989.

DLGTA. 2009. Case Study Presentation – Dukuduku on-site resettlement project. 08.07.2009. Enhance Project Team, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs.

DWAF 2000. Press statement on Dukuduku Forest. R. Kasrils, Minister of Water Affairs and Forest, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), 08.06.2000.

Grey, D. M. 1959. Chief Regional Forest Officer to Chief Bantu Affairs Commissioner, 29 April 1959, BB 1719 L2000/603/1 Vol. 2. Pretoria: National Archives Repository, National Archives and Records Service of South Africa.

Harrison, E. 1970. ‘Annals of the Hlabisa Magisterial District and Mtubatuba’ (unpublished manuscript). Made available by R. van Wyk, Mtubatuba, 2009.

Sim, T. R. 1907. Conservator of Forests, Memos of 27 August 1907, Files of the District Forest Officer. ASS B,1,1,1,10 L2000 60X, KwaZulu-Natal Archives (KZNA), Durban.

KZNW. 1992. Futululu Forest Research Centre to Kwa-Zulu Natal Wildlife. Copy authors’ possession.

Heaton Nicholls, G. 1927. Heaton Nicholls to Somersville, Secretary for Lands. 1927·06·07, Files of Agricultural Credit and Tenure, 115 3928 Vol. 2. Pretoria: National Archives Repository (SAB), National Achieves and Records Service of South Africa (NARS).

ZALCC. 2003. Dukuduku Community v Regional Land Claims Commissioner: Kwazulu-Natal and another (LCC30/02) [2003] South Africa: Land Claims Court (ZALCC) 14, Court proceedings, (30.05.2003). <http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZALCC/2003/14.html>, accessed 05.04.2011.

Zaloumis, A. 2010. iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa: Recognizing the people's right to restitution but the state's role in conservation. MPA NEWS – International News and Analysis on Marine Protected Areas, 12, 2: September–October 2010.

Newspapers

Natal Witness, Pietermaritzburg; Zululand Observer, Empangeni.