Title to land and loss of land in the Griqua captaincy of Philippolis, 1826-1861

Many reasons have been advanced for the failure of the Griqua Captaincies of Griquatown and Philippolis. These include the political squabbles among the Griquas and their inability to create effective forms of political authority; detrimental policies of the missionaries; the indecision of the Cape government and their ineffective protection of Griqua interests; the disruptive effects…

Read More

Public policy and small towns in arid South Africa: The case of Philippolis

Van Niekerk, J and Marais, L (2008), Public policy and small towns in arid South Africa: The case of Philippolis (Free State, South Africa), Urban Forum, 19, 363 – 380.   Abstract Internationally and in South Africa, small towns have been subjected to several external factors leading to their decline, with decentralisation processes placing increased…

Read More

Household Food Security and Hunger in Rural and Urban Communities in the Free State Province

Walsh, C, van Rooyen, F (2015), Household Food Security and Hunger in Rural and Urban Communities in the Free State Province, South Africa, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, vol. 54, Issue 2. To purchase this article, click on http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03670244.2014.964230#.VP2JQek5DIU or request the item via ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270343362_Household_Food_Security_ and_Hunger_in_Rural_and_Urban_Communities_in_the_Free_State_Province_South_Africa or contact walshcm@ufs.ac.za.   Abstract Household food security…

Read More

Are youth being left to play in the dust?

Williams, G and Atkinson, D (2009), Are youth being left to play in the dust?  An assessment of sports programmes and facilities in a small South African town. Commonwealth Youth and Development, vol. 7(1), pp. 70-84.   Journal can be accessed at: http://reference.sabinet.co.za/document/EJC30887, or contact the author at karoo@intekom.co.za.   Abstract Sport programmes are increasingly…

Read More

Commonage in Philippolis

In the south western provinces of South Africa, municipalities own vast tracts of agricultural land. This phenomenon is primarily found in rural towns in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape and the Free State. Many municipalities inherited public land from their 19th century predecessors. In some cases, for example in Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, municipal commonage land was…

Read More

Municipal commonage and implications for land reform

Atkinson, D and Buscher, B (2006), “Municipal commonage and implications for land reform: A profile of commonage users in Philippolis, South Africa” , Agrekon, volume 45, no. 4, December 2006.   Abstract This paper reports on a survey of municipal commonage users, which was undertaken in Philippolis in the southern Free State, in May 2005.…

Read More

Emergent farmers, local knowledge and the implications for land reform

It is a curious phenomenon that modern municipalities in the southern provinces of South Africa own vast tracts of agricultural land. This was primarily the case in rural towns in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and the Free State. Many municipalities inherited public land, called “commonage” or “meentgronde”. In some cases, this land used to be…

Read More