The government’s land reform policy, set out in the 1997 White Paper on South African Land Policy, falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA).
This policy uses a market-based, demand-driven approach which is currently under review. The policy has three components: restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform.
Restitution involves returning land or providing compensation to those who were dispossessed after 1913, and is being dealt with by the Land Claims Court and Commission established under the Restitution of Land Rights Act (No. 22 of 1994).
Redistribution increases black ownership of rural land through discretionary grants allocated to people to acquire land through the market. It is being implemented through the Settlement/Land Acquisition Grant (SLAG), although, since 2001, the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) programme has been implemented to promote commercial agriculture (based on the Provision of Land and Assistance Act [No.
126 of 1993]).
Tenure reform improves the security of tenure of dwellers on rural and periurban land. The Extension of Security of Tenure Act (No. 62 of 1997) prevents illegal evictions from commercial farms and the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act (No. 3 of 1996) protects labour tenants from eviction.
A major political target wass to ensure that 30% of agricultural land is transferred to black South Africans by 2014. Given the progress then, delivery would have had to increase five fold to meet those targets. Land delivered (by restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform) by the end of 2004 amounted to 3.5 million ha, that is, only 4.3% of commercial agricultural land.
The Land Summit held in Johannesburg in July 2005 discussed progress on land and agrarian reform with stakeholders. The ‘willing-buyer, willing-seller’ policy of government, which was strongly criticized by some groups, has been discontinued and a policy of controlled expropriation has been adopted. Between July and October 2005, government expropriated six white-owned farms where negotiations over land prices had reportedly been unsuccessful.
An achievement of the land reform programme was the settling of nearly 73% of a total of about 80 000 claims by early 2005, although these statistics should not be read as indicators of the contribution of restitution to agrarian reform.
Of these claims, only 854 444 ha (representing less than 1% of commercial agricultural land) had been transferred by March 2005.
Some 17 866 claims have still to be processed, of which 10 063 are urban and 7 803 periurban. To date, 72% of claims lodged are urban and 28% rural, indicating the urban bias of the restitution programme.
South Africa’s land reform programme has had a limited impact on the redistribution of land, securing of tenure rights, reduction of poverty, or the development of sustainable, financially viable agrarian enterprises, and has not met the set targets. In fact, most restitution settlements have involved ‘cheque-book’ or financial compensation rather than land, with some R2.4 billion having been paid out. The major reasons cited for the limited impact include inadequate budgets, despite the substantial increase in the restitution budget since 2001; the lack of capacity of state departments to support beneficiaries; and over-ambitious political target setting.
There needs to be more focus on the high demand for land in urban and periurban areas, as only an estimated 9% of blacks not currently farming seek to become farmers.
Furthermore, the manner in which the land reform programme has been implemented (with the lack of post settlement support, financial and otherwise) has often rendered land unproductive and fallow. Land redistribution that leads to sustainable, financially viable agrarian enterprises will be vital to relieve the pressure on land in communal areas and to improve the flow of benefits from what is often currently underutilized land, thus advancing
rural livelihoods.
Some success relates to communities gaining access and rights to conservation areas and the consequent benefits. Examples include the following:
The Maluleke community gained access to the northern Pafuri region of the Kruger National Park
The Mier and the San communities were each awarded 25 000 ha of land inside the South Africa section of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
The Mbangwani community was awarded ‘ground title’ to a 1 262-ha portion of the Ndumo Game Reserve.
Bill Harington
CapeXit – Own your Future
