South Africa's Land Reform Programme
Is Land Reform Failing in Africa’s Most Prosperous Nation?
Mar 1, 2009
With the reputation of being one of the most prosperous nations in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa is struggling with many of the same developmental challenges as its neighbours. High poverty levels, high crime rates and inequitable land distribution threaten the country’s stability.
Much like its embattled neighbour, Zimbabwe, South Africa’s colonial history resulted in unequal land tenure with the white minority owing the majority of farmland. The product is insecure tenure rights for black farm workers and the targeting of white owners for violent criminal attacks. In order to improve the equity of the situation, the government embarked upon an ambitious land reform program. The primary objective of the program is the transfer of approximately 30 percent of land to black ownership by 2014. The transfer of the land would take place through land restitution to people’s disposed after 1913 and targeted land redistribution to vulnerable communities.
As honourable, and necessary, as the land reform program is its failure threatens to lead South Africa to a Zimbabwe-style crisis.
Apparent Land Reform Failure
In a series of articles published in March this year, Bongani Mthethwa of the Sunday Times warns that South Africa’s food security is endangered by its disorganized rural land reform. In the article, “Farms collapse as land reform fails”, Mthethwa’s investigation uncovers the failures of the land reform program showing thousands of formerly productive farms lying abandoned. He claims that many commercial farmers, as a result of the uncertain future of the South African land reform process, are halting investment in their properties with some leaving the country for neighbouring Mozambique and Botswana.
Mthethwa contends that the reasons for the failure of the land reform program are a lack of post-settlement support for new farm owners and minimal monitoring and evaluation on the ground. In an interview with Ann Bernstein, the executive director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE), she pointed out that CDE research had shown that “some beneficiaries had no interest in farming and just wanted a place to stay.” Which means that land that would be used for food production has been turned into unproductive , and aid dependent, lodgings. Administrative challenges have also been blamed for the failure of the program. In the article “Bungle has ruined new black farmers”, Mthethwa delves into the recent liquidation of the company that was set-up by the Land Claims Commission to assist newly restituted farms in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. South African Farm Management (SAFM) went into liquidation with more than R100 million rand (approximately USD 10 million) in debt. It has been claimed that SAFM failed in its mandate and did not provide the services that it was paid for since 2005. This has resulted in the collapse of projects by up-and-coming farmers in the lucrative fruit regions. Despite all these apparent problems, in “Farms collapse as land reform fails”, the acting chief land claims commissioner ,Andrew Mphela, is quoted as saying that “it was too early to measure performance or to talk of failure.”
The issue of land reform is multi-pronged and highly emotive. Evaluating its successes and failures is not straightforward. The following links would provide better understanding of the issues at hand:
UNEQUAL PROTECTION: The State Response to Violent Crime on South African Farms;Land reform hobbled by capacity problems;Fair price for land reform;and, Food Security Statistics
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