This paper is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master‟s Degree in the Department of Public and Development Management
March 2015 / This research presents an assessment of the socio-economic impact of land restitution on people‟s livelihoods with specific reference to the Ehlanzeni District. South Africa`s constitution since the advent of democracy, accompanied by the adoption of its post-apartheid legislative framework, provides for restitution of the land as a way of correcting historical imbalances. More specifically, section 25(7) of the South African constitution provides the opportunity for people who were dispossessed of their land after the 19th June 1913 to have their land rights restored by means of restitution.
South Africa‟s land restitution process is predicated on restorative forms of historical redress, which is counter to retributive forms of historical redress. The lodging of land claims requires historical evidence of dispossession, and in most rural cases claims are lodged collectively by communities rather than individual citizens. This may be problematic due to social differentiation that may have been caused by years of societal breakdown. Land dispossession was one of the most important determinants of the social and economic configurations in South Africa; therefore land restitution constitutes a central aspect of correcting historical injustice and a clear understanding of the restitution processes is necessary in order to understand the impact of restitution programmes. This study adopted qualitative research methods since the issues to be researched are people‟s experiences, which are dynamic and complex phenomena. An assessment of the claims was done; semi-structured interviews were conducted with the purpose of assessing the implications of the restitution, including interviewing the farming community to understand their experiences after restitution had taken place and their perception of the impact of restitution projects on their livelihoods.
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The interviews revealed a great deal of improvement in the ownership, greater access to infrastructure and to an extent, the ability of the beneficiaries to run farms. However, even when participants expressed their commitment and satisfaction, the socio-economic impact on their livelihoods are limited. The study recommends an in depth interrogation of the small-scale farming model and particular emphasis placed on monitoring of projects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/20850 |
| Date | 10 August 2016 |
| Creators | Nxesi, T W |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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