EFF statement on the 111 years of the Natives Land Act of 1913
19 June 2024
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) remembers that today, the 19th of June 2024, marks One Hundred and Eleven (111) years since the passing of the Natives Land Act 27 of 1913. This piece of legislation solidified land dispossession and led to forced removals at a scale not seen anywhere in the world before. It confined African people to a mere 7% of the land, and reserved over of the land to European land invaders and the State. This was a culmination of a series of other pieces of law passed since the British took over control of the 'Cape' in 1806.
The first Governor of the Cape after the British took over control in 1806 was Earl and one of the very first pieces of legislation passed under him was the Caledon Code, widely known as the Hottentot Code Of 1809. This code sought to restrict freedom of movement for the Khoe and forced them into indentured labour on white-owned farms, acquired through violent expropriation of the land from the Khoe.
It required the Khoe to have a fixed address, and to carry passes wherever they went, and empowered white farmers to demand passes from the Khoe at any given time.
The code was further strengthened by another proclamation made in 1812, the Apprenticeship and Servants Proclamation. This compelled children of the Khoe to be indentured to white farmers without pay if these children were born on the farms, or if they were orphaned, which happened frequently. Most importantly, in 1813, John Cradock, through another proclamation, abolished the system of loan farms that had been introduced by the Dutch, and introduced a system of freehold title to land through a system of quitrent system. This system also excluded the native population and was designed for European land invaders to accumulate.