From informality to formality to informality: Extralegal land transfers in an upgraded informal settlement of South Africa

Abstract

Lochner Marais, University of the Free State, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, South Africa, MaraisJGL@ufs.ac.za John Ntema, Department of Development Studies, School of Social Science, University of South Africa, NtemaLJ@unisa.ac.za Jan Clete, University of the Free State, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, South Africa, CloeteJS@ufs.ac.za Anita Venter, University of the Free State, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, South Africa, VenterA@ufs.ac.za Abstract The paper discusses the nature of extralegal land transfers in an upgraded informal settlement in South Africa. The paper investigates these extralegal transfers in terms of the notion of property and property law as a social construct. The paper researches two main but contradictory conclusions, namely that either extralegal transfers are the result of the current social construct of property (also related to the historic lack of formal property for black people in South Africa) and / or that they are the result of the excessively high transaction costs of a formal transfer process. Keywords: Land transfers; extralegal land transfers; property; De Soto; World Bank; economic sociology