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Scientia Militaria, South African
Journal of Military Studies, Vol
41, Nr 2, 2013, pp. 155-158.
doi : 10.5787/41-2-1074
ANOTHER COUNTRYSIDE? POLICY
OPTIONS FOR LAND AND AGRARIAN
REFORM IN SOUTH AFRICA
Ruth Hall (ed.)
Cape Town: University of the Western Cape
2009
264 pages
Illustrated
ISBN 978-0-620-4377-8
This study titled Another countryside? Policy options for land and agrarian
reform in South Africa, edited by Ruth Hall, is significant given the challenges
around diminishing global resources, including those affecting food security. Land
reform does not only affect food security but also the maintenance of food
production levels, development of small businesses, residential settlement and social
cohesion. The focus on South Africa’s land and agrarian policies is relevant at a time
when land issues have taken centre stage in public and private debates in South
Africa. There are wide-ranging security implications for South Africa if the process
of land reform is mismanaged. This study is a timeous one. Hall, as editor,
contributes to some of the eleven chapters. The author is well versed in land issues
in South Africa and her work focuses on the interests, actors and discourses which
have shaped land reform processes in South Africa. As a background to this book, it
would help to the read the 2010 study undertaken by Hall under the title The politics
of land reform in post-apartheid South Africa, 1990–2004: A shifting terrain of
power, actors and discourses.
This compilation is the result of an appeal by Thoko Didiza, the Minister of
Agriculture and Land Affairs under the Mbeki, administration to outline the progress
of and problems facing the land reform process. One particular response came from
the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), which resulted in this
publication.
The introduction to the study serves as
a research problem framed around the
fundamental issues or challenges related to
land reform during the period 1994–2008. Of
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these issues, three are noticeable: unattainable targets, a lack of comprehensive
strategies to achieve set targets, and a general disregard by policy makers for the
quality of outcomes. By implication the work also point toward a lack of policy
feedback evaluation and long term planning.
The mismatch between policy intentions and practical outcomes is evident in
the percentage of land transferred more than 14 years after the initiation of the
project. The 1994 election manifesto of the African National Congress envisaged the
transfer of 30% of white-owned agricultural land to black South Africans within five
years. By 2008, only about 4% of land had been transferred through all aspects of
land reform combined. Land reform, according to this study, has three distinct
features restitution, redistribution and tenure reform.
Restitution refers to processes which address ‘land claims’ for those who
had been denied the rights during the colonial and then apartheid era, while
redistribution is related to reallocating commercial farm lands, a process that is
market-driven as advocated by the World Bank and commonly referred to as the
‘willing buyer, willing seller’ approach. Tenure reform seeks to address challenges,
in particular insecure rights to land, facing people from the former Bantustans. In all
three aspects, proposed strategies failed to achieve intended outcomes. The approach
advocated by World Bank, an approach adopted by South Africa, is excessively
dependent on markets with minimum state intervention, and has resulted in
prolonged processes, which do not benefit buyers or the national economy. The
objective of land reform should not be the mere transfer of land from one owner to
another; it should be driven by rectifying colonial and apartheid practices through
mechanisms which enhance improved livelihoods, increased production, higher rates
of employment and consistent economic growth.
The study attempted to reframe the entire land reform process in a manner
that is characterised by achievable objectives, which not only benefit all involved
but also encourages national economic growth. The text outlines existing practices,
investigates the strengths and weaknesses of these practices and then recommends
alternate options.
Part one discusses foundational questions about land reform covering the
rationale behind the process, the intended targets of the process and the outcomes
that the process should produce. The importance of economic growth, the
development of rural areas and the use of land are highlighted here. An important
issue raised is that land reform projects are limited because grants are too small. In
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order to rectify this, area-based planning has to be a participatory project and it
should be undertaken within a wider vision for agrarian reform. Land reform must
be coordinated at various policy levels, including macroeconomic policy, trade
policy, agricultural policy and local economic development and planning for land
use at farm level. In addition, land reform must move beyond the system advocated
by the World Bank, which is characterised by an over-dependence on markets. In
this regard, it is suggested that the state play a more interventionist and proactive
role since dependence on markets alone stunts the progress of the process. Land
reform should not only target land but should also target the marginalised. It is the
uneducated and ill-informed who most require access to land, yet it is the educated
and informed, even in post-apartheid South Africa, who seem to be accessing rights
to land. In addition, up until the writing of this book, the focus of land reform
policies has been on state-owned lands, yet more than 80% of land in South Africa is
privately owned. In order to rectify inequalities and encourage economic growth, it
is suggested that state initiatives turn their focus towards privately owned land. It is
further suggested that lands be utilised appropriately. Underutilised land appears to
be a norm once transfers have occurred – a recurring phenomenon when land
reforms are unplanned and poorly executed; the policy in this regard not only
affecting the economy but also the issue of access to and availability of food.
Part two of the work covers the economic and political considerations
related to and affecting land reform. Noted in this part is that there has been a
general decline in employment in agriculture since the beginning of the land reform
process. State support, in particular state subsidies, must be increased to rectify this
trend. Although agriculture contributes 4% towards the gross domestic product
GDP, a re-examination of the potential contribution towards the economy needs to
be undertaken. One of the most disturbing issues brought out in this section is that
land reform appears to benefit a limited number of farming elites and contradicts the
initial aims of land reform. Even more disturbing, according to the contributors, is
that the current process appears to be undertaken arbitrarily, with the intention to
gain political mileage instead of benefiting the marginalised or encouraging
maximal use of land. To address this issue, it is imperative that marginalised
sections of the population play a participative role in policy making and
implementation.
Part three of the book discusses the alternative policy. The outstanding
factor is the need for South Africa to formulate land and agrarian reform, which
includes smallholder farming as a major element. The authors argue that alternate
strategies should not only aim at increased production but should also seek to
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increase numbers of livelihoods from the land presently in the commercial farm
sector.
From a security studies perspective, this book stands out because it
demonstrates the far-reaching security implications of the land reform process. The
link between land reform and national security is evident in all three parts.
Economic, political, societal, environmental and sometimes even military
repercussions of a mismanaged land reform process are touched upon. This book
should be compulsory reading for all those with an interest in how the process is
unfolding in South Africa. The book is well structured from a theoretical point of
view. There does however appear to be a lack of information regarding the practice
of land reform processes in other Third World countries. This is not however a
weakness since the contributors were requested to review and analyse the land
reform process in South Africa from a policy perspective. The book is highly
recommended.
Lt Cadene Nabbie, Department of Military Strategy, Faculty of Military Science,
Stellenbosch University
Scientia Militaria http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za