96-116 Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 151 (March 2015) Lupfumo lu Mavuni (Wealth is in the Land): In Search of the Promised Land (cf. Exod 3-4) in the Post-Colonial, Post- Apartheid South Africa Madipoane Masenya (ngwan’a Mphahlele) and Hulisani Ramantswana ABSTRACT The issue of “land” in South Africa remains a political and emotive one considering that the year 2013 marked the centenary of the Native Land Act of 1913. The latter Act was aimed at limiting blacks their rights to land. Even today, the majority of black South Africans are still awaiting the fulilment of the promise for the Promised Land. The promise remains unfulilled on two fronts: First, the government’s land reform programme has failed to deliver on the promise to return the land, even as wealth basically remains in the hands of the minority, the historical winners. Second, the wealth from the mining and agricultural sectors lies in the low costs of production through cheap labour of basically indigenous peoples. In the global world economy, South Africa is one of the biggest exporters of mineral resources and agricultural products. However, as the sage has rightly expressed it, “The ield of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice” (Prov 13:23, NRSV). In this article, we use the Tshivenda proverb, lupfumo lu mavuni, literally rendered “wealth is in the land”, as a hermeneutical lens to examine the Old Testament concept of “Promised Land,” within selected texts, in particular, within the context of Moses’ call (Exod 3-4). If the biblical theme of “Promised Land” is reread through the eyes of the indigenous peoples of South Africa, people who continue to await the “Promise of land”, what kind of reading might emerge? Introduction Our identity within the context of the debate After twenty years in South Africa’s democracy, a debate on the theme of the Promised Land as it is revealed in the Exodus narrative in the Hebrew Bible Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele) is professor in the Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies, University of South Africa <masenmj@unisa.ac.za>. Hulisani Ramantswana is senior lecturer in the Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies, University of South Africa. <ramanh@unisa.ac.za>