THE LIE OF THE LAND
How the government is throttling land reform
The criticism that the pace of land reform is slow doesn’t come close to appreciating the full extent of the crisis. The policy is failing the poor and creating a time bomb of anger, research has shown
State neglect and elite capture are the real face of land reform, according to a landmark field study of farms in the Eastern Cape. And though many state officials have visited the area to see the problems at first hand, almost nothing has been done to fix them. The chief finding of the three-year field study by University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Rhodes University researchers is that poor families and communities who have accessed state land are being left with insecure tenure and livelihoods while established agribusiness is cashing in. This makes a mockery of the state’s avowed intent of using land reform to address poverty. "Though the land question has become prominent in the rhetoric of political parties, none of them attend to the urgent challenges that are evident," says one of the researchers, Prof Ruth Hall of the Institute for Poverty, Land & Agrarian Studies at UWC. "The contrast between what land reform was meant to produce and what we see on the ground is absolute...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.