LAND REFORM WILL HELP PROVIDE A PLAUSIBLE SOLUTION TO ADDRESS SOME OF THE LAND REFORM CHALLENGES
By Peter Setou, chief executive of Vumelana Advisory Fund, a non-profit organization that helps beneficiaries of the land reform programme to develop their land in an effective and sustainable way.
The debates around land reform have now taken centre stage in South Africa with different parties having divergent views on the approach and how to ensure that we redress the imbalances of the past whilst ensuring productive use of land. Whilst some level of progress has been achieved, South Africa’s land reform process is often criticised for being too slow and that the bulk of the land transferred has become economically inactive resulting in job losses.
Estimates show that about eight million hectares of the total of 86 million hectares of white-owned farmland have been transferred to black South Africans through land restitution and redistribution. However most of this arable land has not been optimally utilised.
This is due to a number of factors which includes a sluggish economic growth, a highly polarised socio-political environment, lack of capacity amongst the communities to develop their land, contestations and instability within beneficiary communities, inadequate investment and constrained resources for the implementation of land reform – to mention a few. These challenges warrant all role-players to take a step back, reflect on what needs to be done by all to ensure that land reform succeeds and serves the needs of all South Africans. This is also crucial for a successful national reconciliation project.
