ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Comparative Governance
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Social Impact of Land and Knowledge: Transformation of Land Distribution, Utilization, and Knowledge in Post-colonial Southern AfricaView all articles
Land, Church, and the Politics of Memory in Post-1994 South Africa
Provisionally accepted
- University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
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Word count: 137 This article aims to investigate the connection between land reform and the prophetic function of the Church in post-1994 South Africa through the optic of political memory. The paper contends that land is not simply a material possession but a contested site of historical trauma, ethical responsibility, and theological value. Regardless of the presumed formal end of apartheid, the slow pace of land compensation continues to mirror unresolved discrimination. Drawing on political memory as a critical framework, the study critiques the Church's historical ambivalence toward land and argues that ecclesial institutions must recover their prophetic vocation by antagonizing genetic silences and marshalling theological ingenuity toward land justice. Through a profitable commitment to biblical theology, memory studies, and post-1994 ecclesiology, the paper intends a praxis-oriented model for churches to participate vigorously in remedying land inequality in South Africa.
Keywords: Land, church, Political memory, post-1994 South Africa, Historical trauma, Injustice
Received: 30 Nov 2025; Accepted: 01 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 HOMBANA. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: MPHUMEZI HOMBANA
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