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Rick has over 40 years experience working in the land sector in Southern Africa. He is part of the Land Portal knowledge engagement team working to research and develop knowledge resources including data stories, blogs and in-depth country profiles for Southern, Central and Eastern Africa.
Rick is also a Senior Research Associate with Phuhlisani NPC - a South African land sector NGO and the curator of specialist Southern African land news and analysis website https://knowledgebase.land
He tweets on land related issues Twitter account https://twitter.com/KnowledgebaseL
He has a PhD from the University of Cape Town. His research in Langa, Cape Town features as the central case study in a recent book Urban Planning in the Global South (2018), co-authored with the late Vanessa Watson, which examines the on-going contestations over land and housing in the rapidly growing cities of the global South.
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Location
South Africa
KZN floods — the dangerous cocktail of traditional authorities and local government
Traditional leaders assign land giving little consideration to spatial planning for long-term, sustainable settlement. People are settled in places unsuitable for human habitation. And climate change will bring added volatility and exposure.
KZN flood disaster: ‘Water was quickly rising and I saw that my house would fall’
The latest flood disaster comes just six weeks after parts of KwaZulu-Natal were struck by devastating flooding in which more than 400 people died. At least 80 people are still missing. More than 40,000 homes were destroyed. Dozens of roads, bridges and water and electricity infrastructure were damaged and much of it has not been repaired or restored.
South Africa’s escalating water crises of drought and floods are harbingers of climate crisis
South Africa needs to move away from siloed and passive approaches toward water management and adopt more proactive, robust and integrated approaches.
Apopular phrase in a time of crisis is “it never rains, but it pours”. This is usually a figurative expression referring to the overwhelming sense of chaos at a given time. South Africa is a country which has not been spared from economic, social and political chaos over the past few months, and the phrase has now taken on a literal meaning.
Somalia’s new president must seek regional, federal cohesion while countering al-Shabaab threat
The polls have delivered a new chapter for the country, allowing attention to turn to other pressing problems.
After a 15-month delay in voting, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud became Somalia’s new president on 15 May. Political leaders had disagreed over the election process, including whether to conduct a one-person, one-vote election or an indirect one. In the end, May’s poll was indirect, with clan delegates voting for parliamentarians, who then cast their ballot for the president.
Zimbabwe: Chilonga villagers protest land grab threat
HUNDREDS of villagers in the Chilonga area of Chiredzi district held a demonstration at Chief Chilonga’s homestead on Sunday, protesting the government’s continue manoeuvres to proceed with the setting up of a lucerne grass-farming project by a private company, Dendairy.
The villagers, who came in seven trucks, wanted their voices heard by the authorities on the day the chief was scheduled to meet community leaders and government officials to discuss the project.
The chief was however attending other meetings in Masvingo on the day, forcing the postponement of the meeting.