Paper short abstract:

The paper examines conflicting appropriations of nature and land in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa. This is analysed as the active creation and reformulation of separate but intertwined discourses on land rights, nature and the environment in post-apartheid South Africa.

Paper long abstract:

The paper examines different appropriations of nature and land in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The area epitomizes the highly contested and complex issues involving land in post-apartheid South Africa. More than a thousand people were removed from the area between the 1950s and the 1980s. The rationale for the removals and the alternative use to which the land was to be put, ranged from commercial forestry, mining, national security to nature conservation. Today the area is promoted as a unique natural resort and a holiday destination, and comprises the affluent town of St Lucia, squatter settlements and people having been resettled in newly built villages. After being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1999, severe restrictions were imposed on settlement in the area. This heavily impacted on the legal processes of land restitution set in motion after the end of apartheid, with more than 80 per cent of the Park being under some form of claim. Moreover, many of the claims were settled through negotiations with traditional leaders on behalf of their community, hence departing from the conception of land right and entitlement set down in the South African constitution. These different and contesting appropriations of the land - as nature to conserve, as resources under traditional authorities and as individual entitlement - will be examined as the active creation and reformulation of separate but intertwined discourses on land rights, nature and the environment in post-apartheid South Africa.