PhDGEO / Department of Geography and Geo-Information Sciences / See the attached abstract below

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The research study focus on an investigation into the impact of land reform on women empowerment with reference to Masakona land restitution project at Makhado municipality, Limpopo province. South Africa land reform programme has three sub- programmes namely, Land Restitution, Land Redistribution and Land Tenure. The promotion of women economic empowerment in land restitution projects facilitates the achievement of other important public policy goals such as economic growth, improved human development and reduces poverty. A specific focus on women in land restitution is necessary given the reality that women comprise the majority of economically disadvantaged groups. The support for women economic empowerment as part of overall development programming is important. There should be enough capacity building targeted at women to help them increase their participation in land reform programmes and projects. Land will serve as a means of creating opportunities to enable women to develop in numerous sphere of life, therefore giving them independent economic status. The research findings in this study were done to employed females beneficiaries and the management of Masakona land restitution farms. The measurement of women empowerment were established focusing on economic empowerment, poverty alleviation, participation, decision making and capacity building at Masakona land restitution farms. The findings of this study require the land reform programme to recognize the benefits received by women when lands are transferred to their household and community.

Institute for Rural Development / MRDV

Institute for Rural Development / MRDV

MRDV / Institute for Rural Development / The study was carried out to assess the community-perceived determinants of access to land for development in Mutale Local Municipality. It was conducted in the Makuya and Mutele Traditional Authority areas of the former Mutale Local Municipality. All the views relating to access to land for housing, agriculture and business development expressed during the Vhembe District Land Development Summits and Forum meetings held in 2008, 2010 and 2014 were consolidated. Using this information, a questionnaire comprising entirely closed-ended answers requiring responses on a Likert-type scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) was prepared. The questionnaire was administered through focus group discussions in community workshops during which youth (male and female), women, men and community leaders were the respondents. Open-ended questions were also administered focusing on the factors hindering or enabling access to land, and solutions that the community perceived needed to be taken. Mean and mode for each response were calculated. Chi-Square tests for association were conducted to determine whether there was any association in the responses obtained from the traditional authority areas. Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to determine the level of agreement of perceptions respondents with Vhembe district land development summits resolutions among youth, adults and community leaders. There were no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05) in perception of issues relating to access to land for housing, agriculture and business development of land development. Thus, the issues are real and should form a solid basis for planning interventions that might unlock access to land for different types of uses. Moreover, improving transparency and deepening community participation and consultation over classification and sale of unoccupied land could minimise the likelihood of potential land conflict.

MENVSC / Department of Ecology and Resource Management / This study uses lens to understand conflict over the use of land and its resources in the Mapungubwe area. The main underlying assumption of the study is that various land use activities that are not compatible with each other lead to land use conflict. The aim of the study is to assess land use conflict in the Mapungubwe area. In particular, the study intends to find out the historical and contemporary land-use conflict, compare and contrast the historical conservation objectives with the current conservation objectives in the Mapungubwe area, find out the reasons that made farmers to oppose conservation objectives now and in the 1940s and to investigate the effects of historical and contemporary land use conflict in the Mapungubwe area. In order to achieve these objectives, primary and secondary data were collected. Secondary data that was used included historical documents about Mapungubwe, Hansards or House of Assembly debates of South Africa from 1940 to 1948, newspapers articles, books and journal articles. Secondary data were used to find out the historical land use conflict that took place in the Mapungubwe area. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with private game farmers, commercial irrigation farmers, farm workers (former and current), Mapungubwe National Park officials and land claimants. Field observations were used to corroborate information collected through interviews. Primary data were collected in order to find out the contemporary land use conflict taking place in the Mapungubwe area. The main findings of this study are that land use conflict in Mapungubwe area is not new; rather it started in the 1940s when the United Party government intended to establish the Dongola Wildlife Sanctuary. However, the idea of a wildlife sanctuary led to land use conflict, particularly between farmers and the ruling United Party government. In other words, land use conflict was mainly among conservationists (who were members of United Party) and farmers. Unfortunately, the idea of a wildlife sanctuary in the Mapungubwe area was caught up in political battles between the governing United Party and the opposition National Party that eventually led to its abandonment following the electoral victory of the National Party in the general elections of 1948. The study also found that the contemporary Mapungubwe is also affected by land use conflict. The conflict is mainly because of various land use activities including irrigation farming, game farming, mining, settlement, and land claims that are not compatible with conservation. Land use activities including irrigation and ii game farming, settlement and mining are happening within and around Mapungubwe National Park. This has made it difficult to consolidate the core area of Mapungubwe National Park. As a result, although Mapungubwe National Park has been established in 1995, the park remains fragmented. This study has used Mapungubwe as a case study to demonstrate that the interest over land and its resources in an area by various stakeholders create land use conflict. / NRF

Thesis (Thesis (M.Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The purpose of this study is to investigate perspectives of the restitution programme with special reference to the Mamahlola community in the Maruleng Municipality of Limpopo Province in South Africa. The community is among the many who were dispossessed of their land during the apartheid era. After a long struggle, empowered by new legislation passed on the country’s attainment of democracy in 1994, the community received their dispossessed land back. Based on a qualitative research design, the study uses semi-structured interviews to collect data. Three focus groups participated in the study. These consist of the Banareng ba Letsoalo Tribal Council, the Maruleng Local Municipality Ward 9 Ward Committee and the Mamahlola Communal Property Association. The findings of this research reveal that, ironically, the land restitution programme did not bring any improvement to the livelihoods of the Mamahlola community, as would have been expected. Instead, it raised accusations of financial maladministration, poor communication, mistrust, conflict and divisions within the previously homogenous community. The study recommends that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Department of Agriculture should play oversight roles in all settled restitution claims relating to food production, to ensure continuity and proper financial management. Secondly, it recommends that beneficiaries should be trained in skills relevant to land activities to ensure that the owners of the land work the land. Thirdly, the settlement plan should include an employment plan for the beneficiaries to ensure that they also benefit from the land; and lastly, the issue of the distance between the current location and the claimed land needs to be addressed as part of the settlement plan, as it seems to have contributed significantly to the failures of the Mamahlola project and contradicts the objectives of the restitution programme.

PhDRDV / Institute for Rural Development / Land reform programmes have been implemented to address challenges of inequality in land ownership and poverty in many countries worldwide. They provide the poor people with important livelihood opportunities, such as livestock rearing, crop production and game farming in many rural areas. The government of South Africa, through the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) allocated various farms through the restitution programme to deal with unemployment, poverty, unsustainable livelihoods, shortage of skills and inequality challenges. This study focused on the restituted farm beneficiaries in Waterberg District. This was informed by the fact that since these farms were restituted, the majority of the farm beneficiary’s livelihoods have not significantly changed. A transformative sequential mixed method design was applied in this study in order to enable beneficiaries define their own issues and seek solutions. This involved concurrent collection of both quantitative and qualitative data; a stratified random sampling method was used to select 474 respondents. Qualitative data was collected using Interview guides, photo-voice and focus group discussions mainly from key informants- traditional leaders and the Ward Councillors. Two focus group discussion were held with the key informants and an observation was also used to collect qualitative data from the farmers. The data were analysed using ATLAS. ti version 7.5.7 and Thematic Content Analysis. The quantitative data was collected using a survey questionnaire and the Geographical Information System (GIS) approach to provide trends of the farm production. Remote sensing analysis was used to determine farm production performance of these restituted farms while the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS version 25) was used for computing descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation. The data indicated that farm production has declined since occupation of farms by the farm beneficiaries from 1995 to 2015. The decline has negatively affected the livelihoods of farm beneficiaries since more than half (61.6 %) indicated difficulties in effective operation of the farm due to lack of markets. About 64% of the farm beneficiaries have not been trained in farming. From 1995 to 2015, most of the restituted farms have lacked markets for their produce due to poor production arising from lack of funds to manage the farms. This has impeded beneficiaries from receiving any benefits, in terms of income or employment. Generally, the study concluded that there were no changes in the socio-economic status of the farm beneficiaries in the Waterberg District because most of the farms are not being utilised. The study recommends that the sector Department and private organizations should work together in ways, such as assisting the farm beneficiaries with capacity building, developing marketing strategy for the farm produce, with funds and infrastructure to improve production. With respect to farm performance satisfaction, the majority (77.2 %) of the farm beneficiaries were not satisfied with the restituted farms. Their benefits in terms of human development, financial, social and physical capitals had not changed as the majority (83.3 %) said there are no improvements in terms of salaries or wages. They claim that their livelihoods have remained the same because the farms are not operational due to lack of basic farming skills and conflicts. Agricultural Extension Advisors, Councillors, Traditional leaders and officials from DRDLR confirmed that production levels have declined because the land was transferred to people with no basic training in farming; most (54 %) of the respondents confirmed that the beneficiaries, therefore utilise only a portion of the farms. It is imperative, thus, to ensure that production on the restituted farms is enhanced to improve the areas, such as social, financial, human and physical capital. A three-pronged intervention strategy was, therefore, developed to help restituted farm beneficiaries in Waterberg District to improve their livelihoods, emancipate themselves from poverty and ultimately contribute to the National Development Plan of South Africa. The developed strategy is anchored on three key factors: the need for thorough assessment by the government on the farm beneficiary’s level of commitment to the farm prior to farm allocation and funding, need to incorporate new experts in agricultural economics and agricultural engineers into the restituted farms personnel and the need to decentralize the services of mentors and agricultural extension advisors at District and local Municipalities. / NRF