Rural Livelihoods and Agriculture in the Western Cape

Abstract

This volume results from a major and well-funded research project into strategies for land reform and the enhancement of rural livelihoods in South Africa, in which Merle and Michael Lipton have played an important coordinating role. A formidable array of researchers have made significant inputs. The chapters represent the work of some of the best informed specialists on South African rural and agrarian issues. The Western Cape is unusual in the context of South African agrarian history. It was the area first colonised by whites, and its indigenous Khoisan population was more completely displaced at an earlier phase than any other African group. Almost all of the region became demarcated into privately owned farmlands, and although small areas were occupied by coloured people, especially around missions, no 'significant rural land was reserved for Africans. Settler agriculture was based to a significant degree on slave labour and, later, wage labour. African tenancy, a major feature of many other parts of white-owned farmlands until the 1960s, has been less evident. As a result of early dispossession, few communities in the Western Cape are likely to be eligible to reclaim rural land under the Restitution Act, although a great many who suffered from removals under the Group Areas Act may have claims in cities and towns.