Can sacred cows be culled? A historical review of land policy in South Africa, with some questions about the future

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of the development of land policy in South Africa, highlighting episodes occurring during the last hundred years, such as the Glen Grey Act, the British take‐over of the Transvaal, Union, the 1913 and 1936 Land Acts, Betterment Planning, the Tomlinson Commission, and the unfolding of the homelands policy. While the Land Acts are seen to have had a disastrous effect upon agriculture in South Africa, it is argued that in present circumstances it would be safer to seek to repeal the Group Areas Act and to open up white areas to all races, than to repeal the Land Acts in tote. This would increase black mobility, whereas without this proviso, black people in rural areas might find themselves displaced by land reforms, such as might follow from the abolition of the Land Acts.

Notes

Professor of History and Head of Department, Rhodes University.