Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / In 1994 the South African government embarked on a land reform programme to redistribute and return land to previously deprived and displaced communities and individuals. Concerns have, however, been raised about the impact of land reform on the environment and its natural resources. The Department of Land Affairs (DLA) has attempted to deal with this problem through the National Training Programme, which was specifically initiated to develop capacity among officials of the DLA to integrate environmental planning into the land reform programme. This study assesses the National Training Programme to determine whether the participants who attended the Nationa lTraining Programme are in fact integrating environmental planning into land reform projects. To achieve this aim a qualitative research methodology is used, which involves both the survey based method and a case study approach. From the literature review there is sufficient evidence to indicate that the enormous pressure on the land and the lack of environmental knowledge are the major contributors to environmental degradation in South Africa. The study points out that the South African experience suggests that land reform cannot be sustainable without adequate provision for environmental planning. In its assessment of the National Training Programme, the study finds that, although the participants had gained self-confidence and a positive attitude towards the environment, this has not been applied in practice. Of significance also is the fact that, given the evidence which indicates that where land reform takes place land resources might be degraded, the study clearly demonstrates how environmental planning has in practice been neglected by the DLA, due to a lack of capacity. In view of the outcomes of the assessment of the National Training Programme, the study recommends that further research be undertaken to investigate and indicate the extent and the rate of land degradation as a result of the neglect of environmental concerns in the land reform programme.

The general aim of the dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of Islamic reform in West Africa. To this end fieldwork was conducted among the Songhay of eastern Mali, a people who experienced a sudden rise in the popularity of Islamic reform in the early 1970's which divided many communities along religious lines. The term 'Wahhabiyya', often used to describe a trend in religious reform in West Africa which is inspired largely by the Saudi Arabian model of puritan Islam, is accepted by most members of this Songhay movement. In the region of Gao, in which this locally-based Wahhabi movement emerged, the situation is one in which Islamic reform among the village population is more 'radical' and uncompromising than among town dwellers. The central concerns of the dissertation are to compare the social backgrounds and religious orientations of 'moderates' and 'radicals' and, in particular, to account for the strong appeal of Islamic reform among the villagers. In order to assess the impact of religious reform attention is paid throughout the dissertation to the social and religious life of the non-reformist population. In tracing the background of the topic it was necessary to explore the history of the Songhay with specific reference to the introduction of Islam and its place in the 'traditional' religious complex as well as changes in the family, the economy and the politicaltostructure which have occurred since the advent of French colonization. These issues are set within a general comparison of the reformist and traditionalist communities which includes consideration of the way Islam is observed, the place of leadership and organization, and the way Islamic education is implemented.

No description available.

Strong private property rights to land are recognised as fundamental to the economic growth of a country's legal system. Legal reform of inadequate and inefficient property rights laws is therefore essential. My thesis aims to address the lack of legal reform of the laws governing property rights to land in Nigeria. It does this by critically examining the Land Use Act set up as the primary body of legislation governing property rights in Nigeria.The thesis seeks to offer meaningful insights by proposing an institutional analysis of the limitations to reform of existing laws governing property rights to land in Nigeria. Several approaches of new institutionalism are explored in analysing identified constraints which exist within formal and informal institutions. Explanations of the absence of legal reform are addressed through themes examining formal and informal institutional structures which limit reform. Analyses of institutional structures highlight the significant role played by institutions in the etablishment and development of property right laws in Nigeria. An in-depth look at Nigerian private property laws and legally recognised interests on land exposes fundamental limitations to private property rights protection of individuals within the Nigerian state. The thesis provides valuable insights and addresses institutional limitations through consideration of strategies which would enable and assist legal reform of Nigeria's property rights laws. The study concludes by exploring three aspects. First, it offers reform proposals and analyses the functionality of the proposed reform suggestions. Second, it highlights principles of policy-making redesign within formal institutions. Finally, it offers strategies to assist reform within informal instituional structures.In short, the thesis focuses on enabling legal reform of Nigerian property rights laws to ensure the amendment, modification or excision of bad, inefficient laws in order to offer better protection of individuals' property rights to land.

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.

This thesis endeavours to answer the question, “What does the Reform Party’s ‘populism’ consist of?” An attempt is made herein to characterize the nature of the Reform Party’s populism via Margaret Canovan’s typology of populisms. The analysis concludes that the Reform Party manifests the characteristics of two of the seven different kinds of populist phenomena that Canovan identifies. It is found, on the one hand, that through his “antipolitical” rhetorical orientation, Reform Party leader Preston Manning evinces a certain form of what Canovan refers to as “politicians’ populism.” On the other hand, it is posited that the party’s policies vis a vis federal bilingualism, multiculturalism and immigration programs reflect Canovan’s conception of “reactionary populism.” / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Existing size-distribution of farms and land tenure arrangements in Bangladesh contribute to the perpetuation of inequality and inefficiency among agricultural households. A historical review of the land tenure system in Bangladesh shows that some characteristics essentially reflect older trends while others are the outcome of more contemporary developments. Feudal interests, in the strict sense of the term, no longer exist; however, rent-receiving interests and tenant cultivation have survived, mainly under sharecropping arrangements. With a rapidly growing population, land shortage has become severe for most households. This has enhanced the economic social and political status of the relatively large land owners who continue to hold significant proportions of total farmland. The patron-client relationship between them and the vast majority of landless and near-landless masses has helped maintain a semi-feudal agrarian structure. In the absence of an urban sector which can effectively employ the 'superfluous' labour from agriculture, income-earning opportunities for a poor rural household are mainly related to its land-owning status. Disparity in land ownership being very high in Bangladesh agriculture, the distribution of income has understandably been seriously skewed. In considering the relationship between size-tenure structure and productive efficiency, traditional theories are applicable only to the micro-static context. Micro-static comparisons of agricultural performance of different size and tenure groups of farms can, at best, help in formulating short run policy prescriptions. For purposes of long-term development, however, policies also need to be evaluated in terms of their potential for meeting future needs of the country. The present study contends that neither of the two major cultivation arrangements which exist in Bangladesh agriculture (namely, small-scale owner cultivation and sharecropping cultivation) can meet adequate macro-dynamic standards in terms of improved equity and increased efficiency. In discussing the context of land reform for Bangladesh, it is noted that an 'effective reform1 for the country has to serve a number of goals, which include (a) attainment of equitable distribution of income, (b) raising the level of productivity, (c) generating greater employment opportunities and (d) increasing the marketable surplus. A model of land reform which aims to establish a group farming system based on joint responsibilities in ownership, organization and management, seems to offer better prospects for removing the basic obstacles of size-disability and tenurial disincentives in Bangladesh agriculture. It is recognized, however, both during the process of initiation and during the management phase of a group farming system, numerous practical problems would be encountered. The present study suggests various measures for dealing with these problems and, in doing so, seeks to draw upon the experiences of other countries. Whether an effective programme of land reform can be formulated and will be implemented essentially depends upon the nature of the political power-base and priority objectives of the ruling elite. In Bangladesh, although policies of government do not appear to have been dictated primarily by landed interests, the power-elite has traditionally been seen to cooperate with these interests. The proportion of agricultural households without any land or other means of supporting themselves has, in the meanwhile, been increasing rapidly. The impoverishment of a great majority of rural households, coupled with their heightening demands for amelioration of their situation, seems likely to create political circumstances whereby the allegiance of this section of peasantry could become essential for any elite seeking to attain or maintain political power in Bangladesh. Therefore, the prospects for carrying out an effective land reform in the country seem better for the future than they have been during the past decades. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

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

Land and land reform have long been contentious and highly charged topics in South Africa, with land performing the dual functions of redress for the past and development for the future. This research explores both these aspects of land, with the focus being on the impact of land receipt on household welfare and food insecurity, and social preferences for fairness and redistribution more generally. One of the main aims is to contribute to the land reform debate by providing previously-lacking quantitative evidence on the aggregate welfare outcomes of land redistribution, as well as the extent of social preferences for redistribution in the land restitution framework. In exploring these issues, the welfare outcomes of land are first explored using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data and unconditional quantile regression analysis. The focus is then narrowed to the food insecurity impact of land receipt, beginning with a methodological chapter outlining the development of a new food insecurity index applying the Alkire-Foster method of multidimensional poverty measurement (2009; 2011). This is followed by the presentation and discussion of food insecurity profiles of land beneficiary and non-beneficiary households. The new index is also used as an outcome measure in exploring the determinants of household food insecurity. These two sections again use the NIDS data. The final section shifts the emphasis from the economic welfare benefits of land redistribution to notions of fairness and social justice encapsulated by land restitution. A behavioural laboratory experiment is used to investigate social preferences for fairness, and the factors that influence redistributive inclinations, by exploring the relative weights placed on fairness considerations and self-interest, as well as the fairness ideal. The findings indicate that beneficiaries do not use the land received for productive purposes, a possible explanation for the limited economic welfare impacts of land reform that are observed. Despite this limited developmental impact, the laboratory experiment makes it clear that land reform plays an important role in addressing other needs and wants in society, particularly in respect of preferences for fairness and addressing historical injustices.