Reflections on the Urban Land Justice Gathering

written by Kelly Bishop, 27.08.2025

Listening to grassroots voices at the Urban Land Justice Gathering left me with lessons that reach far beyond Cape Town.

This past week I had the privilege of attending the Urban Land Justice Gathering, organised by Ndifuna Ukwazi, together with the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) – UWC, SERI, City Occupied Collective, Workshop 17 and the Housing Development Agency (HDA) in Cape Town. The event brought together activists, researchers, and community leaders to discuss the enduring legacy of colonial and apartheid-era land dispossession, its impact on economic inequality, cultural identity, and dignity, and the urgent need for land reparations and redistribution.

From Stories of Struggle to Structural Debates

It was powerful to hear voices from across movements and communities. Some of the most powerful testimonies came from activists such as Kenneth Matlawe (Housing Assembly) and Karen Hendricks (Reclaim the City) as well as residents from Cape Town. I was especially struck by women talking about their experience as domestic workers in Sea Point. They described how the City criminalises them while at the same time they are providing the labour that sustains Sea Point’s booming tourism and real estate economy. Many of them work in Airbnbs and luxury apartments, keeping these spaces functional for the very system that excludes them. This revealed to me how harmful it is when the “informal” is treated as a separate and inferior sphere. In reality, these systems are deeply intertwined, yet the process of “othering” makes people’s contributions invisible while criminalising their existence.

The Right to Housing and Its Social Function

Housing is not only a private good or an economic asset. It holds a social function, providing a place for dignity, security, and participation. Adequate housing is central to income generation, social exchange, and community cohesion, particularly for women who face compounded disadvantages due to gender, race, and socio-economic status.

From an international human rights perspective, housing encompasses security of tenure, availability of services, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location, and cultural adequacy. But these components must also be understood in relation to social inclusion. Housing located far from services or infrastructure not only limits economic opportunities but also restricts participation in society, reinforcing cycles of exclusion.

The Economic Dimensions of Land Justice

A key insight from the Gathering was that land justice is fundamentally economic as well as legal. Economists and activists stressed the importance of understanding how value is generated through real estate speculation, rezoning, and the sale of public land.

The session on Financing Land Reparation, Property Tax, Expropriation, and Redistribution with Astrid Rosemary Ndagano Haas, Helen Rourke, Alison Tshangana, Justice Naledzani, and Dr Cecil Madell made this crystal clear. I was also grateful for Dr Cecil Madell’s input, who pointed out how similar processes play out in the Global North. Coming from Zurich, I recognised the same dynamics of financialisation, speculation, and gentrification pushed forward by tech companies, banks, and global investors. In South Africa, these dynamics are compounded by the legacy of apartheid, which entrenched spatial and economic inequality, making it easier for capital to operate within pre-existing deeply unequal structures.

Land dispossession has never ended; it has only shifted forms. This makes the struggle over land and housing both historical and urgent, tied to broader questions of justice, redistribution, and equality.

Fiscal and Tax Policies as Land Justice

One area that deserves more attention in these debates is tax and fiscal policy. From a human rights perspective, redistribution cannot be understood without addressing how states generate and allocate resources. International law is moving in this direction (see the report of the Tax Justice Network on the UN Convention).

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has been developing an emerging doctrine that requires states to demonstrate in deliberate, concrete, and targeted ways how fiscal policies and taxation advance rights. This includes:

• Tax incentives for corporations. States must show in concrete how such incentives advance the fulfilment of economic and social rights, rather than undermine them.

• Budgetary measures. How governments allocate resources must be scrutinised to ensure they do not reinforce gender or geographic inequalities. For example, disadvantaged urban areas, particularly informal settlements, must receive targeted support for services, infrastructure, and affordable housing.

• Progressive realisation through fiscal policy. The Committee increasingly looks at whether states are raising resources in ways that maximise the fulfilment of rights, under the principle of “maximum available resources.”

CEDAW complements this by requiring states to monitor the gendered impacts of tax rules and fiscal policies, and to adapt them to ensure substantive equality. This includes examining whether revenue from business activities, often generated through tax incentives, is being redirected to mitigate the negative effects of those same policies.

These developments raise pressing questions:

• How can governments show that their fiscal policies advance the right to housing?

• Should and how can states design taxation frameworks that explicitly channel revenue towards the progressive realisation of socio-economic rights?

• Can gender-responsive budgeting help link fiscal policies directly to the reduction of gender-based poverty in urban areas? Hence, would tax revenue gained in Sea Point need to be directly allocated to affordable housing for “informal” workers in Sea Point?

Although these debates are still emerging in international law, the direction is clear. Fiscal policy is not a neutral technical matter. It is a central terrain of struggle for equality, redistribution, and justice.

Political and Social Barriers

Another session at the Gathering addressed the political and social barriers to advancing housing justice. While it was fascinating to hear how different political parties approach the issue, it was also sobering. Much of the discussion centred not on mechanisms of accountability, but rather on the recurring problem of political will.

Coming from Switzerland’s multiparty system, I am accustomed to the challenge of political parties working across lines to find compromises, build consensus and reach feasible solutions. This is driven less by choice or goodwill than by necessity, as securing a majority requires compromise. It was interesting to hear how South Africa’s system presents similar challenges, particularly when coordination is needed across local, provincial and national levels. This made me reflect on the current political moment and whether the changing political power relations could create incentives for collaboration, rather than blocking projects. Political will, after all, emerges from interests, compromises, and institutional structures. I was left with questions about what political decision-making processes exist in South Africa to facilitate multiparty agreements on social housing and service delivery and whether additional processes would be helpful.

Participants highlighted barriers in accessing services, including cases being dismissed because documents were submitted to the “wrong” department. Residents should not need to navigate a fragmented state apparatus to access their rights. Effective governance requires internal processes to ensure that all submissions are directed to the appropriate channels.

The Gathering also emphasised that participation alone does not guarantee inclusive outcomes. Public engagement processes can reproduce existing power dynamics, often sidelining marginalised voices. Meaningful and inclusive participation is essential to ensure that the perspectives of those most affected inform decision-making, a point powerfully illustrated by one woman in the audience, who shared her experience of the power dynamics within the public participatory processes in Johannesburg.

From Cape Town to the World: Building Alliances

What was most striking about the Gathering was the resonance between local struggles in Cape Town and broader international debates. The financialisation of land and housing, exclusionary urban policies, and the marginalisation of vulnerable communities are shared challenges across contexts. Yet housing also represents a site of resistance and collective imagination, offering opportunities for new alliances and strategies.

I see a need for alliances across movements, feminist, labour, housing, tax justice, and climate justice organisations to challenge the legal, economic, and social structures that entrench exclusion. While each movement focuses on different issues, they share core objectives: dismantling inequality, promoting justice, and amplifying marginalised voices. Feminist movements highlight the gendered dimensions of poverty and exclusion; labour movements address economic exploitation and workers’ rights; housing movements focus on access to land, tenure security, and the social function of housing; climate justice organisations tackle environmental inequalities that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. Collaboration across these sectors allows for strategic convergence, enabling movements to address the interconnected drivers of inequality, pool expertise and resources, and exert collective pressure on policymakers. By recognising these common goals, alliances can develop holistic, multi-dimensional strategies that link social, economic, and environmental justice, ensuring that interventions are more inclusive, sustainable, and transformative.

Across Cape Town, Zurich, and beyond, communities and movements are asserting that land and housing must serve people first, rather than markets. International human rights frameworks provide critical guidance, but local struggles highlight the lived realities that must shape housing policy.

Key Lessons and Steps Forward

The Urban Land Justice Gathering reminded me that while the challenges are huge, the conversations are vibrant and there are possibilities for solidarity. For me, it was not just about listening to others, but about carrying these lessons forward, linking them to international debates on tax, human rights, and redistribution, and imagining together what a more just future might look like.

The Gathering highlighted the need to hold together three dimensions of land justice:

• Addressing historical dispossession through restitution and reparations.

• Confronting contemporary exclusion, including the commodification of land and housing.

• Designing inclusive urban futures, where access to land and housing affirms human rights and the social function of both.

Thus, several points emerge that can guide future action:

1. Recognise the social function of housing. Housing is more than shelter. It includes dimensions of security, identity, economic opportunities, health, education and participation in community as well as connection to family. Policies must protect and enhance these multiple functions, particularly for women and marginalised groups.

2. Build cross-movement alliances. Feminist, labour, housing, tax and climate justice organisations share common goals around substantive equality, inclusion, and redistribution. Collaboration allows movements to address structural drivers of exclusion holistically, pool expertise, and amplify impact.

3. Connect local struggles with global frameworks. Experiences from Cape Town, Brazil, Zurich, and elsewhere show that financialisation and commodification of housing are global challenges. Learning across contexts can inform strategies for rights-based, inclusive urban development.

4. Integrate fiscal policy into human rights strategies. Taxation and budgetary measures are central to advancing socio-economic rights. States should demonstrate how fiscal policies, tax incentives, and public spending concretely support housing rights and gender equality.

5. Ensure meaningful participation. Involvement of affected communities must be inclusive and substantive. Participation should enable real influence over decisions, rather than reproduce existing power hierarchies.

6. Address political and administrative barriers. Accountability mechanisms are essential, and state systems must be designed so that citizens do not bear the burden of navigating complex bureaucracies. Collaboration across departments and levels of government can strengthen responsiveness and effectiveness.

7. Embrace interdisciplinary approaches. Legal, economic, social, and environmental perspectives must be integrated to address housing justice comprehensively. Experts across fields can contribute complementary solutions that are practical, equitable, and sustainable.

The Gathering was a reminder of how deeply questions of land remain tied to broader struggles for equality, and how much can be learned from grassroots voices. At TRANSVERSAL, the aim is to continue engaging with these debates and working collaboratively to shape inclusive, and sustainable approaches to land and housing justice.

written by Kelly Bishop

citation: Kelly Bishop, Reflections on the Urban Land Justice Gathering, August 2025, TRANSVERSAL - Insights.

Source of Images: Taken from Programme PDF of the Urban Land Justice Gathering organised by Ndifuna Ukwazi.