Fighting Fire With a Broken Teacup: a Comparative Analysis of South Africa's Land‐Redistribution Program*

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Since the rise of its first democratically elected government in 1994, South Africa has sought to redress its highly inequitable land distribution through a series of land‐reform programs. In this study we examine land‐redistribution efforts in two of South Africa's provinces, the Western Cape and Limpopo. By analyzing a cross‐section of projects in these two locales we develop a political ecology of stymied land‐reform possibilities to explain the limited progress to date. Given South Africa's ambitious goal of redistributing 30 percent of its white‐owned land by 2014 and the incremental and flawed nature of its redistribution program, we argue that the process is like trying to put out a fire with a broken teacup. Our results are based on interviews with policymakers, commercial farmers, and land‐redistribution beneficiaries, as well as on an analysis of land‐use change in Limpopo Province.

Land, landlords and sustainable livelihoods: The impact of agrarian reform on a coconut hacienda in the Philippines

“…Some countries have succeeded in implementing significant transfers of land, and also increasing overall production and rural well-being, such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea (Kawagoe, 1999;Kay, 2002;Sobhan, 1993). But, in contrast, many developing nations in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia appear to have failed to improve the lives of the rural poor and their communities to any significant degree through agrarian and land reform initiatives (Amid, 2009;Clover and Eriksen, 2009;Deere and De Medeiros, 2007;Malope and Batisani, 2008;Moseley and McCusker, 2008). The frequent failure of such interventions to alleviate the plight of the peasants in many countries, or to improve land productivity, is possibly one of the reasons why debates on land and agrarian reform waned in the 1980s, and the topic dropped off the official development agenda in many countries (Borras et al, 2007b).…”

Fifty years of land use change in the Swartland, Western Cape, South Africa: characteristics, causes and consequences

“…The repercussions of the shift in land use types, when viewed in the context of a changing climate, have potential consequences for land degradation, resource depletion and soil erosion that need to be further researched. The politically imperative of land reform, together with significant labour issues, represent additional substantial challenges facing the region (Moseley & McCusker, 2008), and further render its future an uncertain one.…”

Contemporary Land Reform Policy and Practice in South Africa and Its Environmental Implications: New Ideas, Old Problems?

“…The goal of "30% by 2014" will not be met (the current figure stands at somewhat less than 10%) and has even been referred to as trying to put out a fire with a broken teacup [Moseley and McCusker, 2008]. The 'two cycles' of policy [Hall, 2007] that saw an earlier, more populist policy aimed at very poor farmers has been replaced by one that focuses more on emerging black commercial farmers, yet neither has been able to keep pace with demand.…”