Land reform in post-apartheid South Africa: Should South Africa follow Zimbabwe's footsteps?

Abstract

There are two interconnected fundamental policy questions that should shape any land reform programme in any African context: what kind of land reform and land tenure is ideal as well as what kind of farming is appropriate? The article argues that South Africa has never addressed these important questions and other associated questions, hence there appears to be policy confusion regarding South Africa's land reform processes. It is taken for granted that the process of land reform in South Africa is necessary in redressing apartheid colonialism – this should be the hallmark of land reform in not just South Africa but Southern Africa as a whole, as Moyo (2013), Murisa (2013), Hendricks et al. (2013), Hebinck et al. (2013) and many others have argued recently. Since 1994, the government relied on the 1996 Constitution and the 1997 White Paper on Land Reform as well as a plethora of legislative pieces to redistribute land, correct land tenure and address land restitution. However, land reform as a whole in South Africa has been a dismal failure. It is no surprise that Hendricks et al. (2013, 1) say ‘there remains a land crisis in South Africa’. Zimbabwe, by contrast, has been peddled as a possible model to follow. The study of the Zimbabwean land reform processes amplifies the fundamental point that this article argues – that policy clarity is critical.