MSCAEC / Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

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.

This study briefly discusses land restitution in several countries in Europe and the Americas, the history of land deprivation in South Africa, and the legislation introduced to remedy the inequality of land ownership. Differing interpretations of the legislation in respect of the valuation of land to be purchased by the state for restitution purposes and the valuation formulae recommended at various times by the state and its advisors are discussed. Some of the problems encountered in the implementation of the South African restitution program, including the highly emotional expropriation/confiscation issues, are mentioned. Three case studies based on these differing interpretations are given. The case studies illustrate the evolution of the interpretations of the legislation concerning land restitution valuations in South Africa. / School: Management sciences / M. Tech. (Real Estate)

Many authors and practitioners involved in rural or local development agree that co-operation and the integration of efforts by the delivery agents is crucial for sustainable development programmes. The delivery of Land Reform as initiated by the new government in South Africa (SA) is one programme that has been faced by a number of challenges including the slow pace of delivery, lack of support and co-operation from the key stakeholders, negligible impact on the improvement in the lives of its beneficiaries and many others. Many Land Reform participants including the government argue that among the challenges facing this programme is a lack of co-operation between the key stakeholders including the different spheres of government involved or impacted upon by the delivery of the Land Reform programme. The Department of Land Affairs (DLA) which is responsible for Land Reform delivery is facing challenges in integrating Land Reform with the rural or local level development which is facilitated by the local and district municipalities through the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) process. This thesis seeks to look at how the Land Reform planning process and the internal spatial data systems within the DLA can be used to integrate Land Reform delivery with the municipal IDP processes to attain integrated rural development. There is a growing realization of the fact that the development of an integrated spatial data is critical for sustainable development in SA. A number of initiatives have been embarked upon by various organizations to establish the spatial data infrastructure. However these efforts have been reported to be often fragmented and isolated in the areas of operation and focus. Thus, the challenge is to develop a strategy to develop an integrated spatial data infrastructure that would be used to support sustainable development programmes such as the Land Reform programme. This thesis therefore proposes to look at the various data sources particularly within the DLA and from other organs of state involved in Land Reform and local development with a view to highlight the limitation and shortcomings that can be addressed in integrated spatial data infrastructure. To assess the current status of the spatial data sources and usage for Land Reform implementation, an analysis of the spatial data sources within the DLA was conducted to determine its suitability for the development of an integrated spatial data infrastructure. Different sections of the DLA responsible for acquiring and providing spatial data were assessed to ascertain whether their data can be shared, transferred or integrated to support the Land Reform implementation. An integrated spatial data infrastructure is then proposed as a solution to forge co-operation and collaboration among all users involved in Land Reform implementation. / Thesis (M.Sc.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Land reform is a vital political issue that has been fiercely debated in recent years, especially in South Africa. With the historical background of South Africa consisting of colonialism and political resistance that resulted in racial discrimination, apartheid was forced onto the black citizens by the white government. To correct the injustices of the apartheid regime, the new democratic government had to find a way to redistribute land that was previously owned by citizens previously disposed of their land. The South African government uses land reform to address the social, political and economic issues that this newly democratic country face; however, it has not been implemented very well to date. The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions on the progress and implementation of land reform in the Matzikama Municipality of South Africa. With different stakeholders’ perceptions to be taken into consideration, this study focused on three aspects: (1) the perceptions of commercial farmers in the Matzikama Municipality; (2) the progress of Equity Share Scheme (ESS) projects in the Matzikama Municipality; and (3) the perceptions of the key role players on land reform. The study focused on the commercial farmer members of the Vredendal famers’ association and members of the ESS projects in close proximity to Vredendal. The research objectives of this study were sixfold, namely (1) to examine the literature on land reform to establish an understanding of what land reform is about, what overall objectives it has, what types and approaches exist and how it has been implemented internationally; (2) to investigate policies, legislation and the land reform programme of South Africa and how it has been implemented nationally; (3) to identify the perceptions of the commercial farmers in the Matzikama municipal area on land reform; (4) to determine how successful or unsuccessful land reform projects have been in the Matzikama municipal area by investigating farms that have incorporated it; (5) to identify the perceptions that key role players have on land reform and to use these perceptions to assess the current state of the land reform programme in the study area; and (6) to identify the problems that the land reform programme is experiencing and to make recommendations on how to improve the current state of land reform. The necessary data was collected through a questionnaire survey among commercial farmers and conducting interviews with beneficiaries of ESS projects and key role-players. The data was then analysed by making use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. The findings indicate that the commercial farmers have a very negative perception of land reform, the main reason being that they felt the government was targeting white commercial farmers, and some respondents indicated that they felt insecure about land security. As for ESS projects in the Matzikama Municipality, the projects have not being very successful, although the Alfalfa land reform project is still trying to uplift its shareholders. From the data collected from the interviews conducted with the key role players, five problems were identified relating to the current implementation of the land reform programme in the study area in general: (1) the incoherence of the current policy-making approach and the massive gaps between national and local stakeholders in the current decision-making approach; (2) the slow acquisition process for agricultural land due to cumbersome bureaucracy; (3) the lack of partnership and integration between government departments, the private sector and beneficiaries; (4) the lack of government support, which has contributed to the poor success rate of land reform projects; and (5) the beneficiaries’ inexperience and lack of skills concerning farming. To address the problems identified with the current implementation of the land reform programme in South Africa, it is recommended that the government reassesses the approach it has been using to try to redistribute agricultural land. This can be done by ensuring that officials dealing with land reform have the necessary skills and experience to implement the strategies. The government should also consider a grassroots approach when identifying land for redistribution by making use of local communities. Funding from the government is also crucial and should be allocated appropriately. Lastly, the government should invest in programmes that focus on educating emerging farmers on managing a commercial farm successfully. / AFRIKKANSE OPSOMMING: Grondhervorming is 'n belangrike politieke kwessie waaroor daar die afgelope paar jaar heftig gedebatteer word, veral in Suid-Afrika. Met die geskiedkundige agtergrond van Suid-Afrika, bestaande uit kolonialisme en politieke weerstand wat gelei het tot rasse diskriminasie, is apartheid deur die wit regering afgedwing op swart burgers. Om die ongeregtighede van apartheid reg te stel, moes die nuwe demokratiese regering 'n manier vind om grond te herverdeel aan die voorheen benadeelde burgers wat voor apartheid die grond besit het. Die Suid-Afrikaanse regering gebruik grondhervorming om die sosiale, politieke en ekonomiese kwessies wat hierdie nuwe demokratiese land in die gesig staar, aan te spreek, maar dit word nie so goed geïmplementeer as wat die voorheen benadeelde burgers verwag het nie. Die doel van hierdie studie was om die persepsies oor die vordering met en implementering van die grondhervormingsprogram in die Matzikama Munisipaliteit van Suid-Afrika te bepaal. Met verskillende belanghebbendes se persepsies wat in ag geneem moet word, het hierdie studie gefokus op drie standpunte: (1) die persepsies van kommersiële boere in die Matzikama Munisipaliteit; (2) die vordering van Gedeelde-eienaarskapskema (ESS – Equity Share Scheme) projekte in die Matzikama Munisipaliteit, en (3) die sleutel rolspelers se persepsie oor grondhervorming. Die studie het gefokus op die kommersiële boere wat lid was van die Vredendal Boerevereniging en lede van die AWS projekte in die nabyheid van Vredendal. Daar was ses doelwitte vir hierdie studie, naamlik (1) om die literatuur oor grondhervorming te ondersoek om 'n begrip te bekom van wat grondhervorming is, watter algemene doelstellings dit het, watter tipe grondhervormng en benaderings bestaan, en om vas te stel hoe grondhervorming op ’n internasionale vlak geïmplementeer word; (2) om ondersoek in te stel oor die beleide, wetgewing en grondhervormingsprogram van Suid-Afrika en hoe dit op die nasionale vlak geïmplementeer word; (3) om die persepsies van die kommersiële boere in die Matzikama Munisipale gebied oor grondhervorming te identifiseer; (4) om te bepaal hoe suksesvol of onsuksesvol grondhervormingsprojekte in die Matzikama Munisipale area is deur ondersoek in te stel op plase wat AWS projekte begin het, (5) die persepsies wat belangrike rolspelers oor grondhervorming het, te identifiseer en hierdie persepsies te gebruik om die huidige toestand van die grondhervormingsprogram in Suid-Afrika te bepaal, en (6) die probleme wat die grondhervormingsprogram ondervind te identifiseer en aanbevelings te maak oor hoe om die huidige stand van grondhervorming in Suid-Afrika te verbeter. Deur die verspreiding van vraelyste onder die kommersiële boere en deur onderhoude met begunstigdes van AWS projekte en sleutel rolspelers te voer, is die noodsaaklike data ingesamel, waarna dit ontleed is deur gebruik te maak van die Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) en Microsoft Excel. Daar is bevind dat die kommersiële boere ’n baie negatiewe persepsie oor grondhervorming het. Die hoof rede hiervoor is dat hulle voel die regering teiken wit kommersiële boere en sommige respondente het aangedui dat hulle onseker voel oor grondsekuriteit. Die AWS-projekte was nog nie regtig suksesvol in die Matzikama Munisipaliteit nie, maar die Alfalfa grondhervormingsprojek bestaan nog en probeer om die aandeelhouers op te hef. Uit die data wat deur die onderhoude met die sleutel rolspelers versamel is, is vyf probleme met die huidige implementering van die grondhervormingsprogram van Suid-Afrika geïdentifiseer: (1) die onsamehangendheid van die huidige benadering tot beleidskepping en die massiewe gapings tussen die nasionale en plaaslike belanghebbendes wat die huidige besluitnemingsbenadering aanbetref, (2) die stadige verkrygingsproses van landbougrond weens omslagtige burokrasie; (3) die gebrek aan vennootskappe en integrasie tussen regeringsdepartemente, die private sektor en die begunstigdes van grondhervorming; (4) die gebrek aan ondersteun van die regering, wat bydra tot die swak slaagsyfer van grondhervormingsprojekte, en (5) die gebrek aan begunstigdes met ervaring en vaardighede met betrekking tot die landbou. Om die probleme met die huidige implementering van die grondhervormingsprogram in Suid-Afrika aan te spreek, word dit aanbeveel dat die regering die benadering wat hulle gebruik om doe herverdeling van landbougrond te finaliseer, herevalueer. Dit kan gedoen word deur te verseker dat amptenare wat met grondhervorming werk die noodsaaklike vaardighede en ondervinding het om die nodige strategieë te implementeer. Die regering moet ook oorweeg om met behulp van die plaaslike gemeentskap grond te indentifiseer wat beskikbaar is vir herverdeling. Befondsing van die regering is ook van kardinale belang en moet toepaslik toegeken word. Laastens moet die regering belê in programme wat fokus op die opvoeding van opkomende boere wat hulle kan in staat stel om ’n suksesvolle kommersiële boere te word.

This study briefly discusses land restitution in several countries in Europe and the Americas, the history of land deprivation in South Africa, and the legislation introduced to remedy the inequality of land ownership. Differing interpretations of the legislation in respect of the valuation of land to be purchased by the state for restitution purposes and the valuation formulae recommended at various times by the state and its advisors are discussed. Some of the problems encountered in the implementation of the South African restitution program, including the highly emotional expropriation/confiscation issues, are mentioned. Three case studies based on these differing interpretations are given. The case studies illustrate the evolution of the interpretations of the legislation concerning land restitution valuations in South Africa. / School: Management sciences / M. Tech. (Real Estate)

The purpose of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 is to provide for the restitution of rights in land to persons or communities dispossessed of such rights after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices. The restitution of a right in land can include the restoration of a right in land. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the requirement of feasibility in restoring land rights and in particular the role of feasibility studies and the courts’ interpretation of the feasibility requirement in restoring such rights. The methodology used includes a review of literature, legislation and policies on land restitution and an analysis of case law. The outcome of the research indicates that while actual restoration ought to take preference in all instances, it may only be granted once all the relevant circumstances and factors have been considered. In certain circumstances it may not be feasible to restore land rights. / Private Law / LL. M. (Property Law)

This study concerns the analysis of policy, and the statutory and regulatory impact of spatial planning on the land reform programme with emphasis on the land reform settlement plan (LSRP) of the Amathole District Municipality (ADM). There is a brief historical overview of the effect of the policy of spatial segregation in both rural and urban areas of the ADM. This study demonstrates, inter alia, the challenges faced by the ADM in both consolidating and physically integrating communities that were hitherto divided across racial lines. The critical question is whether the ADM has the ability to produce a Spatial Development Framework (SDF), which will be responsive to the needs of the region and serve as a catalyst in reversing the physical distortions caused by the land-planning legislation of the apartheid past. The greatest challenge lies in meeting the developmental aspirations of the Development Facilitation Act, 1995, the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 and the National Spatial Development Perspective, 2003. Chapter 1 deals with the purpose, research problem and the method of research, as well as the definition of terms used in this research and literature review. Chapter 2 deals with the evolution of central themes of spatial planning and land reform, spatial development plans and integrated development plans (IDPs), the alignment of Amathole SDF and Eastern Cape Spatial Development Plan and the co-ordination of spatial frameworks. Chapter 3 deals with the composition of the ADM and the evolution of the LRSP, as well as land-tenure reform programmes impacting on the Amathole Municipality region. This chapter analyses the settlement plan against spatial planning legislation, the issue of institutional arrangements and mechanisms of consolidated local planning processes. Chapter 5 deals with the thorny issue of participation of traditional leaders in municipal planning and the government’s land-reform programme. Despite the existence of legislation in this regard, implementation seems to pose some difficulties. This chapter also deals with the co-operative governance framework. Chapter 6 is a concluding chapter dealing with the gaps discovered in the Amathole Municipality in the light of existing legislation. Reference to cases is made to demonstrate the challenges confronting the ADM. One notable aspect is the issue of urban-rural dichotomy and how the two worlds are positioned in their competition for the use of space. It is evident from this research that the post-1994 policy and legislative framework and implementation machinery lacks capacity to change the current form of the apartheid city-planning paradigm, something which impacts immensely on the sustainability of the current human-settlement development programmes. Population dynamics in terms of migration are hugely driven by search for employment opportunities and better services. The efficiency and ability of the municipal spatial evelopment frameworks in directing and dictating the identification of development nodes in its juristic boundary informed by the overarching national policy and legislative framework is key in building a better South Africa.