A socio-environmental analysis of land alienation and resettlement in Ga-Rankuwa, c. 1961 to 1977

Abstract

This  article  presents  a  historical  case-study  in  forced  removals  and  its  ramifications  from  1961  to 1977 from the perspective of socio-environmental history. The focus area is Pretoria (South Africa) in a  resettlement  area  called  Ga-Rankuwa  whose  community  was  displaced  from  Lady  Selborne  in  the 1960s. The article demonstrates that forced removals did not only result in people losing their historical land  and  material  possessions  but  also  their  sense  of  being  and  connectedness.  The  focus  is  on  the changing perceptions of people in the midst of their land loss, an area of study that is generally under-examined  in  academia.  In  Lady  Selborne,  blacks  were  displaced  from  an  area  that  was  agriculturally fertile,  close  to  the  city  centre  of  Pretoria  and  relocated  to  infertile  Ga-Rankuwa  on  the  outskirts  of the  city.  This  resettlement  resulted  in  many  of  those  relocated  being  prevented  from  engaging  in  food production, which was in turn an affront to Sotho-Tswana culture and religion with its emphasis on land as lefa: a bequest that has to feed its inhabitants. This mind-set resulted in forced removals and in turn
led  blacks  to  disregard  environmental  issues.  Ga-Rankuwa  became  degraded  with  litter,  soil  erosion and  dongas,  especially  in  the  1970s,  as  people  realised  that  there  was  no  hope  of  returning  to  Lady Selborne.