Border Rural Committee

How can I help?

Contribute financially - every cent helps. Please consider making a donation to BRC to enable us to carry out our work.Click here
Visit Cata - if you are planning to be in South Africa from January 2008 onwards (perhaps for the 2010 Soccer World Cup), put the Eastern Cape and specifically Cata on your itinerary. Click here if you would like more information about tourism in Cata.
Spread the word - direct people to our site. The more people who know about our work, the better!

Can I be a volunteer or an intern?
As a general rule, BRC only accepts volunteers and interns through partnership programmes with specific institutions. Currently, these institutions are Student Partnership Worldwide and Färnebo High School in Göteborg, Sweden. This rule is not absolute, however. Contact us, detailing your request.

I am a post-graduate student and would like to make BRC / Cata / Vulamasango Singene the subject of my research - how do I go about it? Please send us an email detailing your request. We receive many requests of this nature, and consider each one on its merits, and in terms of our own programmatic work.

I am a high school / under-graduate student and I need information for a paper / project on land reform or development studies - can you help?
Sorry - as much as we would like to, we don’t have the resources to be able to respond to this type of request. Please view our links page for useful sites.

Are there any vacancies at BRC?
All vacancies are advertised in the Daily Dispatch. There are currently no vacancies.

Where does BRC get it funding from?
BRC is supported by the following donor partners:

Glossary of terms commonly used in BRC documents

Betterment: Betterment planning was implemented in the former homelands and other so-called black areas from the 1930s onwards, in an attempt to regulate these areas and control land usage. Under betterment, designated areas were divided into distinct land use zones - for residential, arable and grazing usage - and all people were forced to moved into the demarcated residential zones. Furthermore, people were also dispossessed of arable and grazing land through the process of betterment. As Govan Mbeki wrote in the early 1960s:
"Those who were being pushed off the land were bitterly resentful. They forfeited the right to graze stock and had to abandon the one form of security to which they clung - the occupation of an arable plot with the right to share the common pasturage." (The Peasants’ Revolt, p 72)

Vulamasango Singene: ‘Open the door so that we can go in’ - the campaign to re-open the restitution claim lodgement period for those dispossessed through betterment planning.

The 50/50 Cata model: This refers to the way that compensation was paid to the beneficiaries in the Cata restitution claim: 50% of the value of the claim was paid directly to the beneficiary family in the form of financial compensation, and 50% of the value of each family’s payout was pooled for development projects. The pool of development funds is administered by the District Municipality.

Acronyms and abbreviations commonly used in BRC documents

ADC	Austrian Development Cooperation	ISRDS	Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy
ADM	Amatole District Municipality	LDOs	Land Development Objectives
AGM	Annual General Meeting	LED	Local economic development
AGS	Africa Groups of Sweden	LPM	Landless People's Movement
ANC	African National Congress	LRAD	Land Redistribution and Agricultural Development
ARDRI	Agricultural and Rural Development Research Institute	LRSP	Land Reform and Settlement Plan
BRC	Border Rural Committee	NDA	National Development Agency
BTC	Border Training Centre	NGO	Non-Governmental Organisation
CBO	Community-based organisation	NLC	National Land Committee
CDRA	Community Development Resource Association	NSI	North-South Institute
CPA	Communal Property Association	PGDP	Provincial Growth and Development Plan
DALA	Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs	PLAAS	Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies
DC	District Council	PLRO	Provincial Land Reform Office
DFA	Development Facilitation Act	PNA	Participatory Needs Analysis
DFID	Department for International Development (United Kingdom)	PSC	Project Steering Committee
DLA	Department of Land Affairs	PTO	Permission To Occupy
DLG&H	Department of Local Government and Housing	QCM	Quarterly Content Meeting
DPW	Department of Public Works	RDP	Reconstruction and Development Programme
DWAF	Department of Water Affairs and Forestry	RLCC	Regional Land Claims Commission
EC	Eastern Cape	RSS	Rural Support Services
ECDT	Eastern Cape Development Tribunal	SACP	South African Communist Party
ECNGOC	Eastern Cape NGO Coalition	SANCO	South African National Civics Organisation
ECPCC	Eastern Cape Provincial Council of Churches	SDC	Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation
ECSECC	Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council	SDI	Spatial Development Initiative
ESTA	Extension of Security of Tenure Act	SMME	Small, Medium or Micro Enterprise
FHISER	Fort Hare Institute for Social and Economic Research	TIP	Tenure Implementation Programme
HLAC	Herschel Legal Advice Centre	ToR	Terms of reference
IDP	Integrated Development Plan	UWC	University of the Western Cape