Transitions to land tenure rights based on the ‘living’ customary law: Innovations to secure land rights in peri-urban areas of Sub-Saharan Africa

Emaculate Ingwani, Simon Bekker

The ‘living’ customary land tenure system describes the shifting policies and practices that characterize access to land, and secure land rights emerging from peri-urban areas. These policies and practices illustrate legal pluralism: the existence of multiple legal systems within a given community or residential space. We use sub-Saharan case studies on Zimbabwe and South Africa to illustrate these research concerns. Generally, peri-urbanity is on the increase in most sub-Saharan Africa because of migration and urbanization processes resulting in increased mix of legal systems on access to land, and secure land rights in these areas. Participatory Geographic Information Systems is identified as a useful planning tool for peri-urban areas. Implementation of this planning tool in land allocation can enhance equity and security for all residents, including children, women, and the poor in particular.

Event: Land Governance in an Interconnected World_Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty_2018

Document type:Transitions to land tenure rights based on the ‘living’ customary law: Innovations to secure land rights in peri-urban areas of Sub-Saharan Africa (495 kB - pdf)