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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
Professor Hanri Mostert
Professor Hanri Mostert’s undergraduate studies in Humanities and Law at Stellenbosch University piqued her interest
in the resource potential of land. Throughout her doctoral studies she pursued the question of how land as a scarce
resource of great public importance could be appropriately regulated, whilst simultaneously private claims to it could be
acknowledged. Having honed her research skills at the Max Planck Institute for Public and International Law in Germany,
she completed her doctorate in 2000.
Researcher Profile
Since then, through her appointments at Stellenbosch
University (2001 and 2008), and the University of Cape
Town (since 2008), she has endeavoured to share
her insights with new generations of property-law
students. Her work has had impact both locally and
internationally, through her appointment as a visiting
Professor at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the
Netherlands, her involvement in the International
Alliance for Land Tenure and Administration, and her work
supporting the South African Law Commission, World
Bank and international and national litigation.
Professor Mostert’s original interests in property law have
matured into specialisations in land law and mineral law. In
these fields, she has contributed to the most authoritative
sources on South African law, addressing issues of
constitutional property protection, landlessness, tenure
security, restitution, nationalisation, land governance and
mineral-resource regulation. Her latest monograph,
Mineral
Law – Principles and Policies in Perspective
(Juta, 2012), has
already assisted the courts’ understanding of mineral law.
Her work emphasises the state’s duties to achieve better
living standards and ensure responsible individual
autonomy. She defends the notion of engaged citizenship
in the enhancement of freedom and quality of life for
individuals and the community and comments on the
role of the judiciary in building a society subscribing to
principles of accountability and trust in property law.
Professor Mostert has now embarked on a project to
create a book series dealing with the mineral laws of
Africa, and building a network of African mineral law
specialists. With Juta Law Publishers she is also working
on a series of opinion pieces on law, the first of its kind in
South African legal publishing.
Professor Mostert holds a B rating from the National
Research Foundation. She also held fellowships of the
Commonwealth Programme, the Max Planck Foundation,
theGerman Academic Exchange Service and the Alexander
Von Humboldt Foundation.
Throughout her doctoral studies
she pursued the question of
how land as a scarce resource of
great public importance could be
appropriately regulated