The Dawie Bosch Collection comprises three discrete groups of records. The first group documents the process of formulating the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA).

The second group documents the struggle for restitution of expropriated land by representatives of the Makuleke community, while the third group comprises newspaper clippings and pamphlets which were published and disseminated in the wake of the announcement of establishing a Tri-Cameral Parliament in 1983/1984.

Each of the archives groups represents the socio-political activities of Dawie Bosch and fellow land rights activists.

Bosch completed a law degree at the University of Stellenbosch, specialising in labour law. Already as a student Bosch, as a member of the United Democratic Front (UDF), was politically active amongst the rural population, focusing of the situation of farm workers.

In 1985, during the first state of emergency called out by the Apartheid state in response to the 1976 Soweto Uprisings and their aftermath, Bosch got involved in a literacy project with farm workers in the Montague area. He was also involved in legal advice centres.

Bosch then joined the Centre for Rural Legal Studies (CRLS) and the Land and Agricultural Policy Centre (LAPC), where he was involved in research and policy development issues in the broader field of labour law. His activism amongst rural workers made him aware of the tenuousness of their rights to tenancy.

One of the most pressing legacies of Apartheid which the post-Apartheid government had to redress was the profound inequality of land: in 1994 approximately 87% of South Africa?s surface was in the possession of the white minority, effected by the Natives Land Act No. 27 of 1913, the Native Trust and Land Act No. 18 of 1936 as well as the Group Areas Acts Nos. 41 of 1950, 77 of 1957 and 36 of 1966.

In order to redress this glaring ill-distribution of land, the post-Apartheid government has, since its inauguration in 1994 passed 22 statutes which are directed at the transformation of the numerous racially discriminatory land laws.

Additionally, the state has spent hundreds of millions of rands buying up farmland in the rural areas for redistribution and for purposes of its tenure reform programmes. According to Bosch the 2002-2003 budget for restitution alone was in the region of R287 million. The land reform delivery amounts to an average of 300 000 hectares per annum.

The three most important pieces of cognate legislation to advance agricultural land reform and the redistribution of agricultural land are:

The Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994

The Labour Reform (Labour) Tenants Act 3 of 1996 and

The Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997.

The Restitution Act established the Land Claims Court for the lodging of claims for restitution of a right to land. The Tenants Act secures the right of occupation of labour tenants on farms. However, there are countless people who, as Bosch and his fellow land rights activists discovered, are not protected by these statutes. Hence Bosch and fellow land rights activists of the CRLS and the LAPC approached the then Minister of Land Affairs, Derek Hanekom, to lobby for tenancy rights of rural tenants with the Ministry with a view to devising a framework for policy and legislation relating to security of tenure and tenancy.

Bosch was invited by the Director-General for Land Affairs to draft submissions for legislation to ensure security of tenure for rural tenants. Together with a team comprising 8 land rights activists and legal experts Bosch prepared policy inputs and proposals for the ANC Study Group of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee and other stakeholders for comment. The drafts, submissions and comments are included in the group entitled 'The Extension of Security of Tenure Act'.

The second archives group documents the attempts made by the Makuleke community to reclaim land that had been appropriated in 1969 and incorporated into the Kruger National Park in that year. Bosch was commissioned by the Chief Land Claims' Commission to act as facilitator between the Makuleke community and the various government departments that were drawn into the dispute.

The archives group entitled 'Makuleke Claims for the Restitution of Land Rights', reflects the process of land restitution and illustrates the legal complexities associated with the restitution of land appropriated by the Apartheid state.

In 1999 the final agreements and court judgements were published by Deny Reitz as a book 'The Makuleke Land Claim Settlement', authored by Bosch. The book is held in the National Libraries of South Africa.

The statues that relate to these two groups have been included in the Collection.

The third group entitled 'Responses to the Announcement of a Tri-Cameral Parliament (1983 - 1984)' are newspaper clippings and pamphlets which Bosch had collected in his capacity as a committee member of the UDF for the Stellenbosch area and as a UDF activist on the campus of the University of Stellenbosch.

Coertse, N. Juta's business law; Vol. 7, Iss 2, pp.56 - 60, 1999

Du Plessis, W. SA public law; Vol. 15, Iss. 2, pp. 549 - 573, 2000

Kok, J.A. De jure; Vol.33, Iss 1, pp. 161 - 174, 2000

Mahomed, A. De rebus, Iss 405, p. 53, October 2001

Explanatory guide to the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, 62 of 1997 issued by and obtainable from the Department of Land Affairs, 1998.

ESTA - Extension of Security of Tenure Act

CPA - Communal Property Association

CRLS - Centre for Rural Legal Studies

LAPC - Land and Agricultural Policy Centre

PUEOL - Prevention of Unlawful Eviction and Occupation of Land

UDF - United Democratic Front