scholarly journals Land Reform for a Landless Chief in South Africa: History and Land Restitution in KwaZulu-Natal

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Jill E. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Land Access ◽  
Reform Program ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Communal Land ◽  
Land Restitution

Abstract Land claims and contests have been central to the construction of political authority across the African continent. South Africa’s post-apartheid land reform program aims to address historical dispossessions, but the program has experienced numerous obstacles and limits—in terms of pace, communal land access, productivity, and rural class divides. Drawing on archival and newspaper sources, Kelly traces how the descendant of a colonially-appointed, landless chief manipulated a claim into a landed chieftaincy and how both the chief and the competing claimants have deployed histories of landlessness and firstcomer accounts in a manner distinct to the KwaZulu-Natal region as part of the land restitution process.

LAND REFORM IN SOUTH AFRICA: OBSTINATE SPACIAL DISTORTIONS

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Manala Shadrack Maake
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Tenure Reform ◽  
Land Redistribution ◽  
Reform Programme ◽  
Theoretical Paper

This theoretical paper seeks to make an empirical contribution to the Land Reform discourses. The paper argues that the pace of land redistribution in South Africa is undeniably slow and limits livelihood choices of relatively most intended beneficiaries of land reform programme. The primacy and success of the programme within rural development ought to measured and assessed through ways in which the land reform programmes conforms to and improve the livelihoods, ambitions and goals of the intended beneficiaries without compromising agricultural production and the economy. In addition, paper highlights the slow pace of land reform programme and its implications on socio-economic transformation of South Africa. Subsequently, the paper concludes through demonstrating the need for a radical approach towards land reform without disrupting agricultural production and further to secure support and coordination of spheres of government. The democratic government in South Africa inherited a country which characterized by extreme racial imbalances epitomized through social relations of land and spatial distortions. Non-white South Africans are still feeling the effects of colonial and apartheid legal enactments which sought to segregate ownership of resources on the basis of race in particular. Thus, successive democratic governments have the specific mandate to re-design and improve land reform policies which are targeted to reverse colonially fueled spatial distortions. South Africa’s overall Land Reform programme consists of three key elements and namely are; land redistribution, tenure reform and land restitution. Concomitantly, spatial proponents and researchers have denounced and embraced land reform ideology and its status quo in South Africa. The criticisms overlapped towards both beneficiaries and state due to factors like poor post-settlement support, lack of skills, lack of capital, infighting over land claims and land management.

The Engagement of Beneficiaries in Farm Governance of Restituted Land through the Communal Property Association Model: The Ideal Versus the Reality of Beneficiary Farms in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mokoko Piet Sebola ◽  
Malemela Angelinah Mamabolo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Farm Management ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
Communal Property ◽  
Farm Ownership ◽  
Land Restitution ◽  
Communal Property Associations

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the engagement of farm beneficiaries in South Africa in the governance of restituted farms through communal property associations. The South African government has already spent millions of rands on land restitution to correct the imbalance of the past with regard to farm ownership by the African communities. Various methods of farm management to benefit the African society have been proposed, however, with little recorded success. This article argues that the South African post-apartheid government was so overwhelmed by political victory in 1994 that they introduced ambitious land reform policies that were based on ideal thinking rather than on a pragmatic approach to the South African situation. We used qualitative research methods to argue that the engagement of farm beneficiaries in farm management and governance through communal property associations is failing dismally. We conclude that a revisit of the communal property associations model is required in order to strengthen the position of beneficiaries and promote access to land by African communities for future benefit.

Financing the Market-Based Redistribution of Land to Disadvantaged Farmers and Farm Workers in South Africa: Recent Performance of the Land Reform Credit Facility

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lyne ◽  
Paul Zille ◽  
Douglas Graham
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Farm Workers ◽  
First Year ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Mortgage Loans ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Credit Facility ◽  
Flow Problems ◽  
Kwazulu Natal

This paper compares the results of public and private land redistribution in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It identifies problems that constrain access to the land market, and describes recent efforts to address the liquidity problem associated with mortgage finance. The Land Reform Credit Facility (LRCF) was launched by government in May 1999 to help alleviate cash flow problems on farms purchased by disadvantaged buyers and financed with mortgage loans from commercial banks. The LRCF does not offer subsidies. Rather it offers loans with deferred or graduated repayment schedules to reputable banks and venture capital investors who finance, on similar terms, equity-share projects and land purchased by aspiring farmers. The paper outlines the LRCF experience and considers reasons for its promising start. The loan target of R15 million (US$2.15 million) set for the first year was reached after only eight months.

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