ABSTRACT
Restitution was, in part, a response to a perceived demand from the ANC’s broader constituency. In recognition of the fact that only specific pieces of land would satisfy the political demands of ANC constituents, the programme set out to establish which these were. Although couched in generalised and symbolic terms, restitution was, in practice, narrow in scope. Though some holders of informal rights have succeeded in getting their claims recognised, many were finding it difficult to do so. Restitution’s muchvaunted aim of ‘honouring the promise of the constitution’, originally conceived of as a nation-building exercise, was instead beginning to yield conflicts between different categories of claimants.
