Who shaped South Africa's land reform policy?

Abstract

This paper investigates the South African (land reform) policy formulation process in the period 1993 to 2000. The paper argues that the political process of policy formulation and the nature of subsequent policies are the results of the distribution of power within a given society, as well as globally, and the interaction (inclusion or exclusion) of a variety of local and international interest groups and individuals within the context of a particular political system. The wide range of actors that shaped South African land policy include the former National Party government, the World Bank, the African National congress (ANC), rural and land‐related non‐governmental organizations, the white commercial agricultural sector, the National African Farmers' Union, the former Department of Native Affairs, and the new departments of Agriculture and Land Affairs. This paper gives a brief account and analysis of the role played by each of the organizations or institutions mentioned above, but also highlights the fact that the poorest and most marginalized sectors of South African society were not part of the policy development process. As a result, a three‐part, legalistic, demand‐driven, market‐based (i.e. willing‐buyer and willing‐seller) land reform programme was developed.

Notes

Department of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Defined as urban and rural poor, farm workers, labour tenants, marginalized groups, women and emergent farmers

The Less Formal Townships Establishment Act provided for the establishment of informal settlements on land made available by provincial administrators or local authorities. The Act replaced the provision for establishing less formal settlements (contained in the Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act), but the power of government to forcibly remove people remained.

Section 12 of the Self‐Governing Territories Act stipulated that the South African Development Trust (SADT), which became the National Rural Development Corporation, would continue to operate under the almost exclusive power of the State President who could transfer SADT assets to any person, state department or institution (Budlender, 1996).

This included communities represented by TRAC, the NLC and the Border Rural Committee covering the former Western Cape, Border, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Natal and Transvaal. Specific communities include Daggakraal, Driefontein and KwaNgema.

Interview with former senior member of the ANC Land and Agriculture Desk, 8 September 2002.

Statement by Communities of the Wakkerstroom District, TRAC, 26 March 1991.

Statement by Communities of the Wakkerstroom District, TRAC, 26 March 1991.

This sentiment was expressed on 7 April 1991 by the following communities in the Western Transvaal: Braklaagte, Koster, Majakaneng, Mathopestad, Modderspruit and Mogopa. Similar sentiments were expressed on 25 November 1990 by communities from the Central and South‐Eastern Transvaal: Vrisgewagte, Bafokeng, Hartebeesfontein, Oukasie, Monnakgotla, Leeuwfontein and Bloedfontein. Other communities expressing similar sentiments include KwaNgema, Piet Retief, Daggakraal, Driefontein and Campsite.

The majority of the research papers produced in this period is collected in Van Zyl, Kirsten and Binswanger (1996).

Mbongwa is the current Deputy Director General of Agriculture and is reported to have very close ties to Bongiwe Njobe. He previously worked at the Centre for Policy and Information Analysis at the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Njobe is the current Director General of Agriculture and Land Affairs and formerly lectured in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria. See Weideman (2003, Ch. 5) for biographical detail on all these authors.

Interview with Senior Researcher, NLC, 7 June 2001. See also Williams (1996).

Interviews with senior participants in the process, July 2001 and 31 May 2001.

Interview with Derek Hanekom (former Minister of Land Affairs and Member of Parliament), Hartebeestpoortdam, 8 September 2002.

The Freedom Charter is arguably the first significant policy statement on rural and land issues. Adopted in 1955, the Charter addressed the structural causes of poverty and advocated equality in land ownership, redistribution and state support for land reform beneficiaries. The Freedom Charter stated that, ‘our people have been robbed of their birthright to the land’. That South Africa ‘belongs to all who live in it, black and white’ and demanded that ‘the land shall be shared amongst those who work it. Restriction of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land re‐divided amongst those who work it, to banish famine and land hunger. The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers; Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land; All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose; People shall not be robbed of their cattle; Forced labour on farm prisons shall be abolished’ (ANC, 1991a).

This argument was made by Mike de Klerk (1990). De Klerk argued that international and local evidence indicated a shift to part‐time farming. He argued that this shift would have two major consequences. First, responsibility for day‐to‐day production activities would in many instances be taken over by black farm managers, leading to the transfer of higher levels of skills and adding to the body of potential black commercial farmers. Second, because supervision is more difficult for part‐time farmers, there would be a growing need to replace direct supervision with productivity incentives and risk sharing. The logical result would be profit‐sharing arrangements, which would constitute and important (indirect) route for resource poor black farmers to access land. De Klerk also advocated the scrapping of the sub‐division of Agricultural Land Act and discussed the possibilities of renting as opposed to purchasing land.

Mbongwa (1990) also argued for the introduction of a land ceiling policy, a progressive land tax, the removal of agricultural monopolies, the creation of a Land Trust through which the government would provide loans to farmers to purchase land, the restructuring of the Land Bank, public ownership of under and unutilized land, and a thorough census of the agricultural sector.

Interview with Helena Dolny.

‘We are number two in the world’s ranking of countries with the greatest internal economic inequality. Yet the outcome of the negotiated settlement is that South Africa's economic transformation now depends on governmental ability to create policies and influence the direction of investment to secure redistribution' (Dolny, 2001, p. 49).

Interview with participant in the process.

Interview with former members of the LAPC.

The NLC grew out of land/rural based NGOs in the 1980s (all organized against forced removals and with some relationship to the Liberal Party). The NGOs were AFRA, the SPP, TRAC and the Grahamstown (now Border) Rural Committee.

AFRA was formed in 1979 and stems from the Liberal Party in KwaZulu‐Natal.

The SPP was formed in 1980 in response to the Crossroads evictions in the Western Cape and is still affiliated with the NLC.

TRAC grew out of the Black Sash and was therefore also subject to Liberal Party influence in its early years. TRAC is still affiliated to the NLC and operates in Mpumalanga and the North West Province.

Interview with former Director General of DLA, July 2001.

Interview with Senior Researcher NLC, 7 June 2001.

Interview with Derek Hanekom.

Interview with Senior Researcher NLC, 7 June 2001.

Interview with land reform activists and former senior employee of NLC.

Interview with Director of PLAAS.

Interview with Deputy Director NLC.

Agri SA has consistently been more ‘progressive’ while the Transvaal Agricultural Union, for example, is decidedly ‘right wing’.

Interview with Derek Hanekom

A budget of R24 million was allocated to the Trust and it was proposed that R10,000 per annum be spent on ‘deserving’ farmers. So far, the Trust has failed to find a sustainable institutional form (Schirmer, 2000).

Hanekom served a five‐year prison sentence for running an ANC communications system from the Magaliesburg (Lodge, 2000, pp.78–80).

Interviews with land activists who were part of the process. It was also the dominant explanation adopted by the South African media.

Interview with former senior member of the Land Reform Tenure Directorate.

When Didiza was appointed, she was not only the youngest member of cabinet, she was also South Africa's first female Minister of Agriculture. Prior to her appointment, she worked for the Black Social Workers' Association and later as a legal secretary for the South African Council of Churches. In 1992, she became the first secretary‐general of the Women's National Coalition and was nominated by the ANC Youth League to be one of their MPs in parliament in 1994.

Interview with former advisor to Derek Hanekom.

Interview with personal friend of Derek Hanekom.

Interview with former senior member of the Tenure Directorate.

Interview with DLA Project Officer.

Bongiwe Njobe speaks six languages, holds a Masters Degree in Agriculture from the University of Bulgaria, has worked in farm management in Zambia and Tanzania, and has been a consistent champion of women's rights.

Interview with land activist.

Interview with employee of the Department of Agriculture.

Interview with land activist and former employee of the NLC.

Interviews with former DG of DLA, Helena Dolny, and former DLA Chief Planner and employees of the NLC.

Interview with senior researcher NLC.