Towards Safeguarding Rural Communities' Social and Economic Interests Through Communal Property Law

• Author: Werner Schoeman & Mashele Rapatsa
• Position: University of Limpopo, School of Law, Polokwane, SOUTH AFRICA
• Pages: 31-43

Center for Open Access in Science  https://www.centerprode.com/ojls. html

Open Journal for Legal Studies, 2021, 4(1), 31-44.

ISSN (Online) 2620-0619  https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojls.0401.03031s

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© Authors. Terms and conditions of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) apply.

Correspondence: Mashele Rapatsa, University of Limpopo, School of Law, Department of Public and

Environmental Law, Polokwane, SOUTH AFRICA. E-mail: mashele .rapatsa@ul.ac.za.

Towards Safeguarding Rural Communities’ Social and

Economic Interests Through Communal Property Law

Werner Schoeman & Mashele Rapatsa

University of Limpopo, School of Law, Polokwane, SOUTH AFRICA

Received: 28 May 2021  Accepted: 23 August 2021  Published Online: 16 S eptember 2021

Abstract

South Africa’s incessant Corporate Law Reforms do offer vast opportunities for rural

communities to be actively involved in their own social and econo mic development. This article

discusses the practicability of using a private company to promote and develop social and

economic interests of rural communities. The fundamental question is: what constitute proper

administration and socio-economic development in a rural context? It takes into account, the fact

that the post-1994 democratic dispensation has made some effort to develop and strengthen the

constitutional property rights, and the social and economic development of the previously

disadvantaged rural communities. This encompassed the idea of, somewhat , relying on civil

society institutions to manage and develop property rights of rural communities. N onetheless, it

should be noted that the success thereof is dubious since the development and operation of civil

society institut ions in these communities are constantly under threat and undermined by t he

tenacity of conflicts between administrators and the traditional leadership. It is asserted that

there is an incessa nt need to resolve fundamental aspects relating to law, application of legal

norms and achievement of social justice in a rural context.

Keywords: communal property interests, corporate law reform, socio-economic development,

rural development, constitutional transformation.

1. Introduction

Although underutilized in a rural community context, South Africa’s corporate law has

evolved so tremendously that it is unavoidably necessary to explore the possibility of relying on a

private company to promote and develop socio-economic property interests of rural communities.

This is particularly significant in the context of advancing such constitutional transformative

ideals that emanated from corporate law reform, which amongst others, sought to inculcate

improved governance, accountability and sustainability in the corporate world. Despite all the

above mentioned constitutional, corporate and property law developments, many problems still

prevail in the management of property of rural communities, necessitating the exploration of

alternatives. One such a possibility is the use of a private company to promote and develop the

economic and property interests of rural communities as an alternative institution to enhance

transparency, higher standards, democracy and the protection of human rights in communal

context.

Section 7 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 provides that the Companies Act seeks to

encourage the growth of the South African economy by encouraging private enterprise and