Educational Media Reviews Online

The legacy of apartheid has survived with the unresolved land struggle in South Africa. Land removal policies instituted in the early1900s sanctioned dispossession and expulsion of Black people from eighty percent of the land as well as all legal rights to it. Even in cases where there was proof of land ownership, the government seized the property and dispelled its residents. Redistribution of land to the Black, indigenous, South Africans via claims became the primary goal of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1995. This has been a difficult mission. Should land entitlement be based on legal documentation or establishing equity? Promised Land examines this complex question in relation to two land claims by the Molamu and Mekgareng communities. The excellent technical quality of interviews, media footage, and images reinforces the astuteness of the filmmaker. The viewer will definitely walk away pondering the insurmountable task that lies ahead for all involved in righting the wrongs of systematic racial injustice. This film comes highly recommended for high school, public, and academic libraries.