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LAND REFORM

About 6,000 families are squatting illegally on Modderklip farm.  Photo: TJ Lemon, The Sunday Independent, January 26 2003.^[kbw]

OVERVIEW

    In 1996 the South African government launched a land reform process designed to “restore land to communities dispossessed of their land rights after 1913.”[1kbw]  The issue of land reform has gained importance in the eyes of the government recently due to the confrontational tactics of land rights groups and the international media attention to the situation in Zimbabwe.  The government is being pressured strongly by rural black claimants to move forward quickly on land reform, but commercial agriculture seeks protection from the government from land invasions.  The land reform process is made more complicated by the interaction between capitalist modes of property rights and traditional African land values.  Traditional leaders oppose any land program that might curb their administrative power over homeland territory.  At the same time, the government must be wary of the international investment community that wants to uphold private property rights and prevent mass unrest and economic destabilization. 

THE LAND RIGHTS MOVEMENT

    Since 1994 when the African National Congress (ANC) took office, "[t]he land affairs department has been under considerable pressure… to give freehold title to those living on land in the former homelands or on trust land which was scheduled for incorporation into the homelands."[2kbw]  Government response, implemented by Minister of Land Affair Thoko Didiza, was a “willing seller, willing buyer” policy that attempted to solve the issue of land reform within a neoliberal framework [more on "willing seller, willing buyer"].  This strategy heavily favored the sellers, however; "[l]andlords determine the price and the type of land that is sold."[3kbw]  To land rights activists, this policy showed the influence of “international perception and economics” on South African government.[4kbw]

    Frustrated with the government’s hesitation, the land rights movement has adopted increasingly confrontational tactics.  In 1998 the National Land Committee (NLC), a non-governmental organization representing poor, rural, landless blacks, many of whom are workers on white-owned commercial farms, called for "the property clause in the constitution to be scrapped and for all state land to be released to individuals immediately."[5kbw]  The land rights movement has since employed two successful strategies in pressuring the government: using international media attention and threatening land invasions.  The Landless People’s Movement (LPM), supported financially and politically by the NLC, organized mass protests during the World Conference Against Racism in Durban in 2001, and at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, taking advantage of the international attention to “attack government for what it claims is the slow pace of land reform in the country.”[6kbw]  International press is particularly compelling right now, as the land reform issue has been brought into the public eye because of the situation in Zimbabwe; “government is rattled by the public exposure of the movement.”[7kbw] 

    In July of 2001, the LPM threatened land invasions throughout the country, for the first time taking “a confrontational stance towards government.”[8kbw]  Mangaliso Kubheka, a LPM leader in KwaZulu-Natal, expressed resentment at what he saw as a betrayal by ANC President Thabo Mbeki: "[t]he very president who we voted for is pointing fingers at us. He was sitting in London while we knew the smell of tear gas in our fight to get rid of apartheid."[9kbw]  To Morena Thoabana of the Free State farming community, land invasions were the only way to communicate their demands to the government. "Land invasions are another way of talking. It is the only language government understands," Thoabana said.[10kbw]

    The summer of 2001 saw the first series of land invasions in South Africa.  In July, thousands of squatters took over unused land that was jointly owned by the government and a private company outside Johannesburg.  The government “made good on its oft repeated pledge not to tolerate such actions by securing a high court order for the squatters to be removed” and sending in riot police to dismantle the makeshift camp.[11kbw]  An escalation in violence between protestors and police in subsequent protests inspired the government to draft “amendments to the 1998 Illegal Eviction and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act in order to clamp down on those who encourage illegal land invasions.”[12kbw]

    Despite government repression of these incidents, it was clear that something had to be done about land reform.  In September of 2001, Political Risk Services identified the growing power of the land reform movement: “the government looks to be increasingly unable to control what is a genuine grassroots protest movement against government failings… what seems increasingly clear is that the land issue is rapidly becoming a serious challenge to the government and the entire political system.”[13kbw]

    In response, the South African government established a goal of putting thirty percent of the 65,000 white commercial farms in the hands of black farmers by 2015.  A plan, jointly developed by commercial agriculture and government, sought to "fast-track the programme of land redistribution for agricultural development and processes of empowerment".[14kbw]  Their overall approach consisted of:

- A land restitution program that returns the land of people forcibly removed under apartheid;
- A land tenure plan that seeks to ensure security of tenure for communities that have been inhabiting land with informal land rights; and
- Land redistribution.[15kbw]

    A proposed Communal Land Rights bill, first drafted in 1997, represented a government effort to address land tenure issues that fell far short of expectations.  Land rights activists opposed the bill, which would have granted land tenure rights to about thirteen million people.  NLC director Zakes Hlatshwayo criticized the bill's "narrow focus", because it targeted only the thirteen percent of land that was reserved for blacks under apartheid (thereby addressing only restitution, not redistribution), and pointed out that the bill reinforced Western methods of land-ownership by not taking into account communal land needs.[16kbw]  But the strongest opposition came from traditional leaders, who saw the bill as undermining their authority to distribute land.[17kbw]  Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) president Nkosi Patekile Holomisa said, "[w]e are the custodians of tribal land and our responsibility is to make sure that our people do not lose (their) grip on that land."[18kbw]  In January of this year, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi went so far as to threaten mass mobilization against the bill.[19kbw] Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini backed Buthelezi, “saying that neither himself nor the amakhosi [chiefs] feared death and would fight for their rights.”[20kbw]  It appears as though these threats – or perhaps the upcoming election season, in which politicians will need to solicit support from traditional leaders – have accomplished their goal, because in April the South African parliamentary committee on agriculture and land affairs submitted a new Communal Land Bill to the Cabinet.  Chairman of the committee Neo Masithela said, "[i]t is a land redistribution Bill to assist communities in terms of power relations with regards to land… At this stage, communal land is not in the hands of the traditional chiefs. The Bill will return land ownership to traditional leaders.”[21kbw]  Members of Parliament from the ANC, Democratic Party, Pan-Africanist Congress, and Inkatha Freedom Party have lent support to the new bill.[22kbw]

    On the issue of land redistribution, however, the government has made virtually no progress.  Underspending is one reason; between 1994 and 2001 the department of land affairs spent only about 55% of its budget.[23kbw]  Another barrier is the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) plan [more on LRAD], which seeks to promote black commercial farming by providing grants to blacks “to buy farms or improve land they already occupy.”[24kbw]  First of all, few blacks have the capital to participate (beneficiaries must make their own contribution in cash, kind or labor).  Additionally, the government does virtually nothing to support farmers after they acquire land, sometimes leaving “illiterate beneficiaries with no skills… alone to manage commercial farms.”[25kbw]  Chris Williams of The Rural Action Committee (TRAC), an affiliate of the NLC, points out that "[w]ith little or no support it is very difficult, if not impossible, for these communities to benefit tangibly from the properties they have acquired."[26kbw]

    The government’s failure to implement meaningful land redistribution has resulted in an escalation of tactics; over the last two years over 40,000 people have started squatting on private or government-owned farmland.[27kbw]  Confrontations between farmers and peasants have grown more and more bloody as the crisis mounts.  Between January 2000 and June 2002, 449 farm attacks were reported; “of these, 41 were murders, 88 were attempted murders, 230 were armed robberies, 19 were attempted armed robberies, and 71 were robberies.”[28kbw]  Things have gotten so bad in Mpumalanga that the government was forced to create a special police unit “to investigate vigilante activities on farms.”[29kbw]

    In the face of a mounting crisis, the government has been forced to act on behalf of rural farmworkers.  In his state of the nation address on February 14, President Thabo Mbeki announced “that the 183 part-time South African National Defence Force (SANDF) units in the country were going to be phased out.”[30kbw]  Andile Mngxitama, a NLC official and anti-commando lobbyist, said, “[t]his is a real victory for farm dwellers that the government has finally recognised that commandos serve the interests of the landlords and they're vicious."[31kbw]  Moreover, the government recently took steps to demonstrate its commitment to land reform. In February, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel^eh allocated an additional R1.9 billion for land restitution and redistribution, in recognition of "the critical role it plays in restoring what rightfully belongs to those formerly dispossessed."[32kbw]  This move was promoted by the acting chief land claims commissioner for the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights as an indicator of the government’s commitment to redistribute land in the country.[33kbw] 

    Land rights activists are skeptical, however.  NLC director Zakes Hlatshwayo said that the budget allocation for land restitution would not concretely change the lives of rural farmworkers: "Most of the money goes to beefing up bureaucracy and to farm purchasing. Very little goes to distributing land for development and providing support to sustain the land afterwards."[34kbw]  Chris Williams of TRAC also felt that the government should be doing more.  "Changes in the lives of rural people are not going to happen at the current rate of funding and focus," he said.[35kbw]

    The most striking development in land reform policy is the government’s changing response to land invasions.  In the past the government has firmly denounced land invasions; in 2002 Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told parliament that "there will be no land grab in South Africa" and that "no farmers will be chased off their farms."[36kbw]  In January 2003, however, the government refused to follow a court order to evict 6,000 squatters from Modderklip farm, and instead appealed against the judgment.[37kbw]  Media coverage of this event underscored the significance of this action; “On the eventual outcome hinges no less than the world's perception of government's attitude to land invasion and its commitment to the property rights provision embodied in the constitution.”[38kbw]  This trend appears to be continuing; in March 2003, the government once again refused to take responsibility for evicting illegal squatters, this time on a Benoni farm, numbering 40,000.[39kbw]

    While the South African government does not show signs of giving in to the demands of the NLC, the growing crisis is forcing the administration to rethink its “willing seller, willing buyer” policy.  This April, Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza expressed a commitment to “find ways of accessing privately owned land for redistribution.”[40kbw]  Didiza acknowledged concern “with regard to the way agricultural land is priced in South Africa… The challenge is how do we access land that is in private hands. We acknowledge that land is available on the market, but there remains some concerns with regard to the accessibility of those who need land to the price margins that are there."[41kbw]  While this statement is cautious, it is a sign that the government may be considering a new land reform strategy.

    As long as the government continues to do little more than give lip service to land reform, it appears that the land rights movement will continue to gain momentum.  Their success in taking control of farmland shows that power is shifting.  If the government continues to oppose land invasions, it may not have the resources to prevent a mass land grab.  However, if the government devises a land reform strategy that is accepted by the NLC, it may successfully co-opt the movement.

 Link to Neoliberal Response

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