Land, church, and the politics of memory in post-1994 South Africa

This article aims to investigate the connection between land reform and the prophetic function of the Church in post-1994 South Africa through the optic of political memory. The paper contends that land is not simply a material possession but a contested site of historical trauma, ethical responsibility, and theological value. Regardless of the presumed formal end of apartheid, the slow pace of land compensation continues to mirror unresolved discrimination. Drawing on political memory as a critical framework, the study critiques the Church’s historical ambivalence toward land and argues that ecclesial institutions must recover their prophetic vocation by antagonizing genetic silences and marshaling theological ingenuity toward land justice. Through a profitable commitment to biblical theology, memory studies, and post-1994 ecclesiology, the paper intends a praxis-oriented model for churches to participate vigorously in remedying land inequality in South Africa.