Healing the Past: A Comparative Analysis of the Waitangi Tribunal and the South African Land Claims System

Abstract

Land is of great social and economic importance in both New Zealand and South African society. The large scale dispossession of the indigenous people in both countries has had drastic consequences for them. The attempts that are being made to address these grievances, and thereby reverse the effects of past injustices, reflect the current political situation in each country. This article is concerned with claims for restitution and the institutions designed to facilitate them - the Waitangi Tribunal and the South African Land Claims Commission and Land Claims Court - and investigates which aspects of such mechanisms are effective and what lessons they have to offer.