Improving Farm Dwellers’ Tenure Security and Access to Housing and Services

The PATHWAYS OUT OF POVERTY: Improving Farm Dwellers’ Tenure Security and Access to Housing and Services is a guide to legislation, policies and case law and will assist officials, non-governmental organisations and public interest law practitioners in navigating the highly complex legal and policy framework regulating farm dwellers’ rights to tenure security and access to adequate housing and basic service.

The publication produced with the assistance of the European Union, analyses the framework governing farm dwellers’ tenure security and access to housing and basic services to try to understand why farm dwellers remain so vulnerable. It also takes stock of the case law of the South African Land Claims Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court and unpacks the most important legal principles that have been developed by these courts in relation to farm dwellers’ tenure security and access to housing and services.

AFRA argues that the laws and regulations governing farm dwellers’ rights to tenure security and access to housing and basic services establishes a framework that has the potential to create a sound foundation for progressively realising farm dwellers’ constitutional rights. However, the state has been unable or unwilling to effectively implement the legal framework it has put in place. AFRA has initiated the Pathways Project in an effort to create a platform for negotiation between farm dwellers, land owners and different spheres of government to find ways of unblocking the obstacles to implementation of systematic settlement of land and service rights.

Download the guide to Improving Farm Dwellers’ Tenure Security and Access to Housing and Services here.