Compromises and Consequences: An Analysis of South Africa's Land Reform Program

Abstract

Land dispossession underpins the land question in most of the former colonies and remains an issue, years after independence. In the case of South Africa, the combined effects of colonialism and apartheid rendered the majority of blacks landless through racially discriminatory laws. South Africa s negotiated settlement in the 1990s resulted in a constitution that provides an enabling environment in which the land question could be addressed. Compromises reached during the negotiations underscore the implementation of land reform. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the critical obstacles and problems facing land redistribution, restitution, and land-tenure reform. It argues that, while the property rights clause has been, and still is, considered the main obstacle to land reform, attention should also be paid to other sets of problems that have, and continue to, obstruct the process.