THE TRAGEDY OF PRIVATISATION: SOME ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE DUTCH INVASION OF KHOIKHOI SOUTH AFRICA

ABSTRACT

The Khoikhoi nomadic system of communal resource management, contrary to notions that open access to common lands leads to their overuse, allowed Khoikhoi herders to get the most out of the game-rich grazing lands they inhabited in South Africa. In a country where rainfall is often unreliable and variable the Khoikhoi system offered the kind of flexibility needed to use resources effectively in harmony with large numbers of wild animals and on an ongoing sustainable basis. When the Dutch arrived on the scene the basis of resource use changed dramatically. The VOC allocated land on an individual basis first as freehold farms and later settlers themselves acquired individual grazing rights that developed into the loan farm system. This system was based on settlers or trekboers acquiring individual control of designated areas of frontier land for their own use, and considerably restricted their mobility in using the grazing resources on which their livestock depended. Privatization prevented the holistic management strategies that were needed to exploit grazing resources on an ongoing, sustainable basis from being developed and did much to undermine the totality of resources on which the trekboers and surviving Khoikhoi depended for their livelihoods.