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CALS seeks to join landmark case on land

- Lee-Anne Gaertner

CALS hopes to bring our experience working with rural communities and international organisations to a land case being heard in the High Court

The Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) has applied to the Western Cape High Court to intervene as a friend of the court in a matter with important implications for redressing the injustices arising from inequitable access to land three decades after the formal end of colonial apartheid.

In November 2024, the Nelson Mandela Foundation launched an application in the Western Cape High Court against the state, including the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Presidency. The application confronts the state’s failure to meet its constitutional obligation to address the injustices of the past by taking legislative and other measures to enable equitable access to land. It further calls for urgent action to address access to land in line with section 25(5) of the Constitution. The state has opposed the application, and filed Court papers in response in 2025.

In March 2026, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) of the 91心頭利 applied to join the matter as amicus curiae or a ‘friend of the court’. CALS has a long history of advocating for justice in the area of land and housing rights and has also been involved in landmark Constitutional Court judgments on access to housing (including the cases known as and ).

CALS’ intervention also draws from our collaboration with organisations working on these issues from across the Global South, as a member of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – or ESCR-Net. ESCR-Net is a global network of over 350 members from 80 countries. The network has made submissions in a number of cases in , and .

CALS seeks to assist the Court in determining this important matter, which raises questions not only around how we understand the constitutional rights in question, but also how we address historical injustice and the legacy of apartheid. We hope to make submissions on the gendered and intersectional impacts of land dispossession, how other jurisdictions in the Global South and regional human rights mechanisms have addressed similar issues, and the state’s obligations under international law to address ongoing structural inequalities arising from colonial apartheid.

“Land dispossession does not affect everyone equally,” says Thuto Gabaphethe, acting head of Home, Land and Rural Democracy at CALS. “Apartheid-era laws combined with patriarchal norms proved to be a brutal combination for Black women in South Africa in particular. This legacy of injustice continues today, where Black women are still excluded from land reform processes. Without access to land, they are instead forced to take low-paying jobs and face an increased risk of gender-based violence.”

“Access to land is a key issue facing rural women in South Africa today,” notes Lulama Madyaka, candidate legal practitioner at CALS. “Land reform efforts must address the intersectional consequences of historical dispossession, which continue to perpetuate inequality and poverty.”

CALS is represented in the matter by in-house counsel Mx Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane. The parties are currently finalising their replying affidavits in the matter, and we await a court date for the hearing.

Read our founding papers in the matter here.

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