Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Also available in print.

Thesis--Hamburg. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 375-412).

This research explores and describes the factors applicable to the success of community-based co-operative ventures in a land reform context. Its theory-base is rooted in entrepreneurship with useful additions gleaned from the experiences of co-operative ventures in South Africa and internationally. It makes use of a purposeful and snowballing sampling strategy to conduct qualitative research. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis and an open inductive approach. Triangulation of results was achieved through in-depth focus group interviews, background depth through secondary research and literature control making use of specific research objectives. The results suggest that a co-operative setting can identify, nurture and expand entrepreneurship. It observes that co-operative schemes can provide the means to substitute for and leverage the external institutional environment that co-operative schemes in a land reform context typically find themselves in. It offers new perspectives on how the interaction of elements affecting the success of co-operative ventures in a land reform context should be analysed. Further research is suggested to test these results. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / pagibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Rural South Africa shows high levels poverty, inequality and unemployment and land reform is one strategy adopted to address these problems. However, the land reform programme appears to have limited success in meeting the objectives of poverty reduction, reducing inequality and creating employment. The main research question is ‘How has the implementation of market-based land reform (MBLR), within the three delivery models, contributed to agrarian change in South Africa?’ Sources of data used to answer this question include the 2005 Department of Land Affairs Quality of Life Survey and case studies of contract farming land reform projects in the KwaZulu-Natal sugarcane sector. Analysis of the survey demonstrates land reform has been implemented in a haphazard manner. A number of redistribution projects achieve some degree of commercial success but household participation in projects is generally low. However, beneficiary households do use project land for private purposes so productive activity, albeit not of a commercial nature, is evident. Beneficiary households rely on an array of livelihoods to survive, of which employment on a land reform project is the least prevalent. Satisfaction with land reform is not strongly correlated with profit or employment on a project suggesting owning land holds more value than adopting its previous productive process. Analysis of the contract farming case studies provides deeper insight into the neoliberal land reform model. While productivity gains are evident, ownership of the process of production is uneven and not in favour of the beneficiary. A close relationship between state and industry is critical for land reform to succeed. The capital-intensive nature of the industry and the share of profit across a greater number of owners indicate it would be difficult to scale up this model. MBLR appears to have little impact on existing economic and social structures which reproduce inequality.

No description available.

Agricultural land ownership, tenure and access in South Africa are historically determined along racial lines. Reactions to this untenable problem are becoming increasingly volatile. More than two decades into South Africa’s constitutional democracy, little has changed to empower the previously disadvantaged majority of South Africans in this regard. The resentment about this institutionalised discrimination and poverty is growing in the wake of government’s failures to meaningfully address the situation. For many Black South Africans, this remains a symbol of their dehumanisation by the previous racist government and its supporting voters. I am a sixth generation land owner of a small-scale farming operation in the arid North West Province of South Africa. This research represents my efforts in searching for ways of creating a more equal and just relationship with my Tswana co-worker in terms of his access and tenure of land. In the final instance, this work would hopefully be of value to farmers and their labourers in similar contexts. I engaged a narrative enquiry based on social constructionism, employing postfoundational practical theology as interpreted and developed by Műller in his 7-steps to participate in this action research. Auto-ethnography and fictional research writing enabled me to problematise a dominant narrative that has become increasingly one-dimensional. According to this narrative, Whites stole the land at gunpoint or through trickery. Political leaders with varying agendas are prone to abusing this version of our past to the advancement of their self-enrichment and patronage networks. My methodology of choice offered the opportunity to establish a non-dominant narrative, using the particulars of this context to create a preferred outcome. I created a revisionist understanding of ubuntu as ‘right action’, which is helpful in securing Joba’s access and tenure to the land. Current affairs in terms of State Capture and other narratives that are dynamically related to this course of events, thicken the plot to such an extent that it causes strain between ubuntu and land reform. I engaged mindfulness as my chosen spirituality to create harmony rather than competition between land and ubuntu. Subsequently, it seems that Joba and my working partnership can be beneficial for both of us and also for other land owners and their co-labourers, particularly, when operated as a share scheme. / Thesis (PhD)-University of Pretoria, 2018. / Practical Theology / PhD / Unrestricted

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / The aim of the study was to investigate elements that compromise the success of Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) in Mopani District, Limpopo Province. There is a general view that PLAS intended to fast track the land reform process. The emerging farmers as soon as they get the land through PLAS are expected to use the land for production so as to improve their socio- economic status and contribute to the local economic growth. The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform proactively acquires the land and redistributes it to the previously disadvantaged people in a lease contract. Emerging farmers do not need to own the land and have title deeds as the land belongs to the government. PLAS is state driven because only the government can proactively acquire the land and lease it out to prospective productive emerging farmers from previously disadvantaged groups. Qualitative research design was used to collect data. The target group in this study were direct beneficiaries of PLAS or emerging farmers. Data was collected using focus group discussions with emerging farmers and one-on-one interviews in all three local municipalities: Ba-Phalaborwa, Tzaneen and Maruleng. One- on- one interviews were conducted with the key participants from the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Limpopo Department of Agriculture. The results of the study show that the emerging farmers are not effectively using the land as expected. They do not have the necessary support from government or Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. It was also revealed in the study that the Limpopo Department of Agriculture is expected to support the emerging farmers with technical support. In practice there is no visible form of support from the provincial department and farmers are left to fend for themselves. Emerging farmers usually lack farming skills and need regular training and support to be able to continue with their farming and businesses. The findings further reveal that the emerging farmers face serious challenges such as a lack of funding, water shortage, and lack of access to markets and their recapitalisation is reduced. These findings show that the strategy is not responsive enough because of lack of resources from the government. While there are instances where the white farmers are willing to sell their land, the government do not always have resources to acquire such lands. Also most of these land prices are often inflated and it is where these sellers are taking advantage of the government. This study recommends that the government should support the emerging farmers by all means possible. That will lead to profitable farming and the lives of the people will change qualitatively, leading to social and economic development. It is recommended further that the emerging farmers be given appropriate training so that they can be equipped with skills and be able to run and manage their farms

The thesis examines aspects of social change in rural Tigray, northern Ethiopia. It is based on fieldwork conducted between February 1993 and February 1995 in two villages located on the south central highland plateau: Enda Mariyam, and Tegula. The majority of fieldwork was conducted in Enda Mariyam - a village of some 228 farming households - and spanned two complete agricultural years. The thesis considers the local implications of reform measures implemented by nationalist rebels - the Tigray People's Liberation Front - as part of a revolutionary agenda for the transformation of 'traditional' Ethiopian peasant society. These measures included, most notably, land tenure reform, as well as changes in customary law and the re-organisation of rural administration. In addition, campaigns were mounted aimed at modifying certain aspects of peasant practice. In the context of a village-based ethnography, the thesis aims to qualify the most significant effects of these measures on social life and livelihoods. A key concern is how reform measures have affected the relationship between subsistence-oriented production, social organisation, and social stratification. In a setting where agricultural inputs - including land, oxen, and seed - are scarce, differential abilities amongst farming households to access agricultural inputs informs the pattern of social relationships. In this context, land reform is intimately linked to changes in the dynamics of wealth differentiation and social stratification in the village. The implications for the position of 'big men' and cultural notions of status-honour are considered. Together with land reform, reform of customary law in the area of marriage and divorce has wrought subtle but important changes in marriage and divorce practices, and the nature of intra-household relationships. It is argued that public campaigns for the 'emancipation' of women have probably had less effect on the ability of women to exert power within marriage, than the economic penalties that men now face upon divorce. Attempts to modify peasant religious practice are also examined, including efforts to minimise the number of holidays in the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar. The outcome of these attempts is explored in terms of notions of disaster and risk, the traditional authority of the Church, and the fragmentation of consensus around religious practice in the village.

published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts