Creator
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi
Adv Tembeka Ngcukaitobi is a South African lawyer, public speaker, author and political activist. He is a member of the South African Law Reform Commission.
Expropriation law: Not new or dangerous
The 2025 law differs from the old Act in that it includes fixing skewed land patterns, and introduces compensation based on ‘justice and equity’ and not ‘willing buyer, willing…
On memory, the Boipatong massacre and society’s shame
We can never forget that the path to creating a society lives and survives only through memory
Why so few South Africans have so much and so many, so little
To change inequality does not require knowing the future, to be certain of the outcome. It requires us to have belief in an idea and, like Mandela, try to make this dream come true
Legality of evil: Robert Sobukwe and the apartheid legal order
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi commemorates the 45th anniversary of the death of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe
For Africans, the British empire was neither benign nor good
Britain consolidated its rapacious theft of territories in Africa and Asia during the reign of Elizabeth II’s great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria
Preserving the rule of law in times of political crisis
This is an edited version of the Inaugural Arthur Chaskalson Memorial Lecture delivered at the Equal Education Law Centre
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi: The ANC’s inertia on land could be the betrayal of its founding principles
The party’s founders focused it’s mission on the problem of the day – land – which remains a central issue. Yet, since 1994, the ANC has been hesitant and timid in resolving the…
Let us never forget: The South African Constitution is written in blood
By recalling the true origins of constitutionalism in our country, we can make sense of the Constitution’s promise and it can – perhaps once again – play its redemptive role
No more excuses for land inertia
In the second of a three-part series on South Africa’s land question, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi says the constitution is clear: land seized under colonial states must be returned. But…
Land, slavery and cattle matter: To move forward, we need to look back
In a three-part series on South Africa’s land question, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi takes a look at the colonial conquests that drove us here
The rule of law in times of crisis: Covid-19 and the state of disaster
Under a state of national disaster, some rights may be suspended. But it is critical to remember that the Constitution itself is not suspended
What section 25 means for land reform
Constitutional changes can’t resolve the real causes of slow and fraught transformation of property ownership
Clear policies needed for effective land reform
Section 25 of the Constitution is the key but a new Expropriation Act is also urgently needed
Makhanda’s prophecy must be fulfilled
It’s 200 years since the Xhosa were driven from their land and it has not yet been restored to them
The land wars of 2019: Analysing the EFF and ANC manifestos
The ANC proposes to continue working with large agricultural businesses, an approach that has to date marginalised small-scale farmers