Another Countryside

South Africa’s parliament has passed a resolution to amend the constitution and allow expropriation without compensation. The decision has generated a storm of gigantic proportions as political parties, citizens, white farmers and commentators anticipate either the moment of salvation (‘real land reform at last!’) or disaster (‘the collapse of the market economy!’). Sadly, few contributions to the public debate are informed by…

On the 19th of February 2018, the Southern Africa node of the Network of Excellence on Land Governance (NELGA) was successfully launched, at an event held at the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Namibia. The launch was followed by a 3-day Master Class - from 20 to 22 February 2018 - on Land Governance and Corruption, attended by…

In the shadow of the Vrede dairy farm saga, the struggling farmers on redistributed land in eastern Free State are neglected by the state, and forced to lease out greater proportions of arable land to white commercial farmers due to the lack of grain production machinery. Whilst their arable land is leased out to white commercial farmers, they focus on…

The Constitution mandates a land reform process to provide equitable access to land (S25(5)), security of tenure (S25(6)) and restitution (S25(7)). No provisions of the ‘property clause’ may impede the state from taking measures to achieve these commitments. Overall, it is evident that apartheid patterns of land ownership remain largely intact, despite more than two decades of land reform. It…

Ian Scoones, University of Sussex In his inaugural address the new President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, confirmed that land reform was both historically necessary and irreversible. He also made a commitment to compensate farmers who were forced off their land during the fast track land reform programme of the 2000s. Many international commentators read this as a sign of a more inclusive stance that could benefit…