OPINION | Urgency in post-settlement support in land restitution is necessary, says NPO in land reform

Efforts to redress the dispossession of black people of their land by centuries of colonialism and decades of apartheid have yielded limited progress 28 years into democracy, despite the introduction of a raft of policy changes and amendments to the legal framework governing land reform. 

This is the opinion of Peter Setou, chief executive of the Vumelana Advisory Fund, a non-profit organisation that helps beneficiaries of the land reform programme put their land to profitable use by establishing commercially viable partnerships between communities and investors.

In the Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy, agricultural and business scholars  Wandile Sihlobo and Prof Johann Kirsten estimate that of the 77,580-million hectares of farmland owned by white farmers, 13.2-million hectares (or 17%) has been transferred away from white landowners to the state (3.08-million hectares) or black owners (10.135-million hectares) through private and state-supported transactions, including land restitution (Vink and Kirsten 2019).

“If we add the 2.339-million hectares that were successfully identified for restitution but for which communities elected to receive financial compensation as the means for restitution, then the total area of land rights restored since 1994 is 15.56-million hectares. This is equivalent to 20% of formerly white-owned land, which is much closer to the 30% target (23.25-million hectares) than commonly believed,” reads the report.

“Equity and equality remain the founding principles of our freedom. If we are to uphold these, there is a need to actively involve private players in partnership with government and non-government organisations and beneficiaries of land reform to find solutions and further ensure maximum use of the acquired land,” said Setou.

Setou acknowledged the interventions government has made to speed up the land reform programme, but points out many of them have failed to yield the expected results.

“The willing seller-willing buyer principle takes too long to negotiate and mediation in the claims process is lengthy. These, coupled with limited institutional capacity to resolve land restitution claims, aggravate the situation. Several challenges remain around resettlement support to new landowners, and the unavailability of monitoring systems to keep track of progress post-settlement does not help matters. We need to move with urgency to provide the necessary support needed by land reform beneficiaries for them to realise the benefits of their land,” Setou said.

Government has invested more than R60bn into land reform projects since 1994, yet the land reform programme has not stimulated development in the targeted rural areas. Government’s Financial and Fiscal Communication admits land reform as a mechanism for agricultural development and job creation has failed, with most farms showing little or no agricultural activity.

A government survey carried out in provinces that include Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal also shows most land reform beneficiaries earn little to no income and most seek work on surrounding commercial farms instead of actively farming their own land.

Vumelana Advisory Fund agrees with the sentiments expressed by Sihlobo and Kirsten, who opine that the recently formed Land Reform and Agricultural Development Agency has the potential to speed up land reform.

Both Sihlobo and Kirsten advised that the model could be the vehicle through which farmland can be returned to most South Africans, with three notable differences from previous efforts.

Firstly, it would ensure beneficiaries weren’t being set up to fail, as has been the case in the past. Secondly, commercial farmers, who benefited from past injustices, would have an opportunity — in a non-politicised way and with little red tape — to contribute meaningfully to land reform. Third, it will happen at local level where local context and knowledge will drive the process.

Both Sihlobo and Kirsten argued the agency would bring about national coordination, reduce red tape and become a one-stop shop for issues related to a decentralised redistribution of agricultural land.

In addition, this would not require excessive fiscal outlays but would use existing sources of material and other forms of support from the commercial agricultural sector. Equally, land donations and a recognition for these donations will also be the key mechanism to fast track land reform.

Vumelana is of the view that the private sector working in collaboration with government and other stakeholders in the land reform space have an important role to play to ensure the success of the land reform programme.

Since Vumelana was established 10 years ago, the organisation has successfully supported more than 23 beneficiary community projects in land reform, facilitating partnerships between communities and private investors, attracting investments of nearly R1bn for communities, and putting more than 70,000 hectares of land to profitable use, with the potential to create or save in excess of 2,300 jobs.

“As we commemorate Freedom Day and what it really means to South Africans, it is also instructive to revisit and implement the recommendations made by the high-level panel chaired by former president Kgalema Motlanthe. We cannot move forward if those bottlenecks the panel identified are not adequately addressed and sufficiently dealt with. Ignoring the challenges the panel identified will not get rid of them. On the contrary, they will linger and frustrate any future efforts at implementing a land reform programme,” Setou said.

Vumelana is a non-profit organisation that helps communities in the Land Reform Programme to develop their land. It funds advisory services to structure commercially viable partnerships between communities and investors that create jobs, income and skills.

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