Historical Justice and Socio-Economic Development: Tensions in South Africa's Land Resolution Programme

Abstract

This study of the land restitution process and the return of, or compensation for, land taken for racial reasons since 1913, explores how the South African ANC government balances the search for economic growth and undoing historical and social injustices underpinned by efforts to balance universal citizenship with recognition of difference. Land restitution, the third leg of South Africa's land reform, has entered a critical phase, with the planned restoration of hundreds of highly developed commercial farms in Limpopo Province to claimant communities in the face of substantial landowner resistance and government over-commitment. The combination of productive land, substantial export revenues, pervasive restitution claims and past disappointments has led the government to embrace a new model of restitution. Successful claimant communities will form a joint venture company with a private entrepreneur and with a small share reserved for farm workers. This new modified business model raises a series of fundamental questions about how the South African government balances its responsibility for providing economic and social development while achieving social justice. A related question is how it equalises the three sources of inequality: race, gender and class. The paper, based upon fieldwork in northern Limpopo Province, analyses these emerging tensions.