Report of the Rehoboth Gebeit Land Tenure Enquiry

Full report (unpublished typescript) with an index to documents and an index to the shorthand notes of evidence, c1930.

The Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of York was founded early in 1972. A multi-disciplinary centre for southern African studies it drew on staff from its parent departments of Politics, History, Sociology and (initially) Economics. Its core activities centred on postgraduate teaching and research and its aim was to extend expert knowledge and understanding of Southern Africa. The first group of graduate students to take the interdisciplinary one year B. Phil in Southern African Studies started in October 1973 and a Board of Studies in Southern African Studies was established to oversee the course. The Director of the Centre was Professor Christopher R. Hill. The Centre soon expanded its provision to offer an MA in South African Studies and well as research degrees. It also hosted visiting scholars and research fellows. From 1973 it also held specialist conferences.
When it began, the Centre offered the only tailor-made UK course that dealt specifically with southern Africa. it was the only centre concerned with this part of Africa, which the Hayter Committee that had established Area Studies elsewhere had left out. The Southern African Studies Trust was formed in 1972 to raise funds for the Centre.
The Centre for South African Studies' documentation project was launched in October 1974 with the aid of an award from the Leverhulme Trust. Its aim was to gather extensive collections of manuscript and printed material relating to southern Africa. For the purposes of the project, Southern Africa was defined to include Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), Namibia and the Republic of South Africa. The search for material was focused on material held and available in the British Isles. It reached arrangements with governments to receive various government publications and took in gifts and deposits of publications, ephemera and government publications, as well as personal archives. The printed and archival material was kept in and administered by the University Library until the archives were later transferred to the Borthwick Institute.
In 1983 the Centre became part of the University's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS). The Centre was closed in 1995.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws.

The Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of York was founded early in 1972. A multi-disciplinary centre for southern African studies it drew on staff from its parent departments of Politics, History, Sociology and (initially) Economics. Its core activities centred on postgraduate teaching and research and its aim was to extend expert knowledge and understanding of Southern Africa. The first group of graduate students to take the interdisciplinary one year B. Phil in Southern African Studies started in October 1973 and a Board of Studies in Southern African Studies was established to oversee the course. The Director of the Centre was Professor Christopher R. Hill. The Centre soon expanded its provision to offer an MA in South African Studies and well as research degrees. It also hosted visiting scholars and research fellows. From 1973 it also held specialist conferences.
When it began, the Centre offered the only tailor-made UK course that dealt specifically with southern Africa. it was the only centre concerned with this part of Africa, which the Hayter Committee that had established Area Studies elsewhere had left out. The Southern African Studies Trust was formed in 1972 to raise funds for the Centre.
The Centre for South African Studies' documentation project was launched in October 1974 with the aid of an award from the Leverhulme Trust. Its aim was to gather extensive collections of manuscript and printed material relating to southern Africa. For the purposes of the project, Southern Africa was defined to include Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), Namibia and the Republic of South Africa. The search for material was focused on material held and available in the British Isles. It reached arrangements with governments to receive various government publications and took in gifts and deposits of publications, ephemera and government publications, as well as personal archives. The printed and archival material was kept in and administered by the University Library until the archives were later transferred to the Borthwick Institute.
In 1983 the Centre became part of the University's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS). The Centre was closed in 1995.

The Commission was appointed in 1930 in response to the Rehoboth Rebellion, a long dispute over land tenure rights (see, P. Pearson, 'The Rehoboth Rebellion'. Unpublished paper presented to the African Studies Seminar, University of the Witwatersrand 1978).

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Further accruals are not expected.

Voss, G.d.T.; and Scott, H.G. 1930: Rehoboth Gebiet Land Tenure Inquiry Commission. Report. National Library, Windhoek: XX/1965 A.

* P. Pearson, 'The Rehoboth Rebellion'. Unpublished paper presented to the African Studies Seminar, University of the Witwatersrand 1978.
* Hartmut Lang, 'The transition from communal to private land ownership in Rehoboth, Namibia' in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Bd. 124, H. 2 (1999), pp. 319-333.

Published

GB 193