10.4314/ai.v34i3.22414

Abstract

The government of South Africa is in the process of implementing a land reform policy composed of land redistribution, land restitution and land tenure reform programmes. To speed up this process, it might be useful for South Africa to look at the experiences of neighbouring countries in Southern Africa. This paper aims to provide one such experience in the case of Lesotho, through a discussion of the use of grazing associations in community-based range resource management in Lesotho. The paper argues that the use of grazing associations failed to promote sustainable community-based range resource management in Lesotho. Instead, it exacerbated socio-economic, territorial and political tensions and conflicts within and among the rural communities. Most of these conflicts hinged on the issue of preferential access to rangeland and the exclusion of non-members and other user groups. The paper concludes with the identification of lessons for South Africa.