This paper examines the conflict over the privatisation of the Cameroon Development Corporation between the government of Cameroon and the Bakweri tribe. It is set against the conflicting landscape and power fields of traditional, colonial and modern authority systems: a hallmark of the land tenure system in which the Bakweri find themselves today. This case study shows how local people are appropriating the western concepts of human and property rights and social justice, within the context of neoliberalism by making compensation claims for the appropriation of their land. It further suggests that present-day conflicts and threats to human security are traceable to larger contemporary, historical, economic and political processes such as colonialism and neoliberal globalisation, with varying impacts at the local level.