Community, Conflict and Land: Exploring the Strategic Partnership Model of South African Land Restitution

Abstract

The Strategic Partnership (SP) model was implemented in the South African land restitution programme. The model prematurely ended in a fiasco that left the community with huge debts and intractable conflicts. This paper aims at understanding the implementation process by taking up the issue of how conflict emerged, resolved and sustained around the SP model. This paper suggests that conflict emerged because of the following reasons: the policy framework failed to address the heterogeneity of the community; community value was undermined as a business partner; and the state placed unprecedented trust, power, and authority on strategic partners. See Lahiff, Davis and Manenzhe (2012) for a detailed analysis of why the SP model failed in Levubu, how it has performed elsewhere, as well post-SP model developments in Levubu. 744 S. Basu