A toehold on the land

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Book

Title:	A toehold on the land
Year:	1988
Pages:	36
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	farmers expropriation tenancy
Abstract:	Child labour, physical assault, debt to the farmers and impounding of cattle are just some of the abuses taking place in the southeastern Transvaal and northern Natal, South Africa. These events are taking place within the remnants of an ancient system, that of labour tenancy, whereby people secure access to, or tenancy of, some agricultural land, by working for the landowner. This booklet describes the labour tenancy system, the tenacity with which black tenants resist eviction, and the system's implications. Given the history of land dispossession and the State's historical mission to turn all blacks in the 'white' areas into servants and wage labourers, labour tenancy is one of the only means presently available to the black people to keep hold of their land.