Land reform in South Africa

The Native Lands Act of 1913 "prohibited the establishment of new farming operations, sharecropping or cash rentals by blacks outside of the reserves"[1] where they were forced to live. "Land restitution" was one of the promises made by the African National Congress when it came to power in South Africa in 1994.

These property rights are extremely important as, not only do they empower farmer workers (who now have the opportunity to become farmers) and reduce inequality[2] but they also increase production due to inverse farm size productivity. Farmers with smaller plots who live on the farm, often use family members for labor, making these farms efficient. Their transaction costs are less than larger plots with hired labor.[3] Since many of these family members were unemployed it allows previously unemployed people to now participate in the economy and better the country's economic growth.[4]

Despite this view, it is also argued by some that the opposite has happened. Many South Africans and foreign commentators have voiced alarm over the failure of the redistribution policy. Around 50% of farms are said to be failing,[5] whilst the South African government has said the figure could be as high as 90%.[6] Critics use these figures to suggest that the ANC government's current policy will be detrimental to the South African agricultural industry.

The reform

The Land Reform Process focused on three areas: restitution, land tenure reform and land redistribution.[1][7] Restitution, where the government compensates (monetary) individuals who had been forcefully removed, has been very unsuccessful and the policy has now shifted to redistribution with secure land tenure. Land tenure reform is a system of recognizing people's right to own land and therefore control of the land.

Redistribution is the most important component of land reform in South Africa.[8] Initially, land was bought from its owners (willing seller) by the government (willing buyer) and redistributed, in order to maintain public confidence in the land market.[1] Although this system has worked in various countries in the world, in South Africa it has proved to be very difficult to implement. This is because many owners do not actually see the land they are purchasing and are not involved in the important decisions made at the beginning of the purchase and negotiation.

In 2000 the South African Government decided to review and change the redistribution and tenure process to a more decentralized and area based planning process. The idea is to have local integrated development plans in 47 districts. This will hopefully mean more community participation and more redistribution taking place, but there are also various concerns and challenges with this system too.[9]

These include the use of third parties, agents accredited by the state, and who are held accountable to the government. The result has been local land holding elites dominating the system in many of these areas. The government still hopes that with "improved identification and selection of beneficiaries, better planning of land and ultimately greater productivity of the land acquired..."[10] the land reform process will begin moving faster.[11] As of early 2006, the ANC government announced that it will start expropriating the land, although according to the country's chief land-claims commissioner, Tozi Gwanya, unlike Zimbabwe there will be compensation to those whose land is expropriated, "but it must be a just amount, not inflated sums."[12][13]

Despite these moves towards decentralization, these improved practices and government promises are not very evident. South Africa still remains hugely unequal, with black South Africans still dispossessed of land and many still homeless. The challenge for the incumbent politicians is to improve the various bureaucratic processes, and find solutions to giving more South Africans secure land tenure.

In South Africa, the main model of Land Reforms that was implemented was based on the Market-led Agrarian Reform (MLAR) approach. Within the MLAR, the strategic partnership (SP) model was implemented in seven claimant communities in Levubu in the Limpopo province. The SP model was implemented between 2005-2008 that ended up in a fiasco leading to creation of conflict between several interested parties. [14]

Future challenges

Various researchers have identified various challenges facing land and agrarian reform in South Africa. The following are amongst the challenges as identified by Hall (2004) and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (2008):

Unresolved land claims, which are largely rural claims, are mostly affected by a number of challenges such as:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Deininger, Klaus. "Making Negotiated Land Reform Work: Initial Experience from Colombia, Brazil and South Africa." World Development Vol. 27(1999): 651-672
  2. ↑ Keefer, Philip, and Stephen Knack. "Polarization, politics and property rights: Links between." Public Choice 111(2002): 127-154
  3. ↑ Van den Brink, Rogier, Glen Sonwabo Thomas, Hans Binswanger, Agricultural Land redistribution in South Africa: towards accelerated Implementation. 1st ed. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2007
  4. ↑ Torstensson, Johan. "Property Rights and Economic Growth: An empirical study." KYKLOS 47(1994): 231-247
  5. ↑ http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2013/06/land-reform-south-africa
  6. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8547621.stm
  7. ↑ Moseley, W.G. and B. McCusker. 2008. "Fighting Fire with a Broken Tea Cup: A Comparative Analysis of South Africa's Land Redistribution Program." Geographical Review. 98(3): 322-338.
  8. ↑ Lahiff, Edward. "Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies." Land Reform in South Africa: A status Report 2008 38(July 2008): 1-42
  9. ↑ Hall, Ruth. "Decentralisation in South Africa's Land Redistribution." Presentation to the PLAAS regional workshop on Land Reform from Below? Decentralisation of Land Reform in Southern Africa. Program for land anad agrarian studies. Kopanong Conference Centre, Kempton Park, Johannesburg. 23-04-2008. Address
  10. ↑ Lahiff, Edward. "Program for Land and Agrarian Studies." Land Reform in South Africa: A status Report 2008 38(July 2008): 1-42
  11. ↑ Hall, Ruth. "Decentralization in South Africa's Land Redistribution." Presentation to the PLAAS regional workshop on Land Reform from Below? Decentralization of Land Reform in Southern Africa. Program for land and agrarian studies. Kopanong Conference Centre, Kempton Park, Johannesburg. 23-04-2008. Address
  12. ↑ "IRIN Africa | Southern Africa | South Africa | SOUTH AFRICA: Deadline for land transfer negotiations set | Governance | News Item". Irinnews.org. 2006-08-15. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  13. ↑ "SA land expropriation to start soon : Mail & Guardian Online". Mg.co.za. 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  14. ↑ Basu, Soutrik. "Community, Conflict and Land: Exploring the Strategic Partnership Model of South African Land Restitution". Journal of International Development: n/a–n/a. doi:10.1002/jid.3150.

External links

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1002/jid.3150

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