The Presumed Increase of Access due to Redistribution of Property Rights in Rural South Africa an analysis of policies and daily practices on land reform farms in the langkloof by ZARRA DELAAT 2 3 THE P RESUMED I NCREASE OF A CCESS DUE TO R EDISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY R IGHTS IN R URAL S OUTH A FRICA an analysis of policies and daily practices on land reform farms in the langkloof MSc. graduation thesis in order to obtain the degree Master of Science from Wageningen University & Research Center, under the supervision of prof. dr. ir. J.W.M. van Dijk, Department of Social Sciences, defense will take place on the 12th of may 2017, by Zarra de Laat, BSc. Amsterdam 2017 This MSc. thesis has been approved by: prof. dr. ir. J.W.M. van Dijk Graduation supervisors: prof. dr. ir. J.W.M. van Dijk dr. P.G.M. Hebinck facilitated by: © Z. de Laat, Amsterdam, the Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the author. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research was conducted as Msc Thesis for Wageningen University and Research center. I would like to thank my supervisor Han van Dijk, for support while I was in South Africa, for getting me back on track when I lost focus and for helping me to change my thesis in a way it matched the circumstances. It has not always been easy and the research did not go as planned, but Han has always been positive and supportive. Furthermore I want to thank Living Lands, for providing a home in Twee Riviere and for facilitating my research; for letting me join the ‘learning journey’, for listening to the input I had and for many great experiences and South African dinner parties. I want to give special thanks to ‘the pink ladies’ of the Langkloof1 Larissa Koch, who has been my roommate and ‘Living Lands sister’ for three months, my running partner and with whom I experienced and discussed all di culties and highlights of my research and stay in South Africa. More special thanks go to Jessica Cockburn, PhD candidate, Living Lands coresearcher, co- interviewer and weekendto-Transkeitrip partner. Jess taught me ins and outs about South Africa, that I could not learn from academic research. Then, Catherine Andersson, for support and downto-earthiness and her fabulous house on the beach. Jocelynn Jacobs gets many thanks for her humor, but most of all, for joining me in interviews with Afrikaans speaking people. For being translator, but also discussion partner. Also I would like to thank the Living Lands men. Dieter van den Broeck for allowing me to do my research with Living Lands, for the conversations and support. Andreas Baele and Justin Gird for support, great conversations and for a lot of fun. Colin Tucker for arranging everything, for picking me up at the airport at my arrival. And last but not least Matthew Septhon for the best debates and explanations about rural South Africa and racism. And thanks for letting me cry when all the impressions and injustice became too much for me. Finally Kris and Maura, Living Lands in the Langkloof. Thanks for having me in your home and for facilitating the research. It has not always been easy, as Maura honestly admitted said while saying goodbye, but it has been a valuable experience and I have always felt welcome ‘at home’. Thanks also for learning me how to make ‘potjie’. Back home in the Netherlands, also many people have been supportive. I would like to thank Claire Gersen, for simultaneous thesis writing. Day. After. Day. With, in between, wine drinking nights. My parents, for being supportive, loving and interested. David and Leon, the best bartenders of Volkshotel, for making hundreds of co ees for me during my writing days on their ‘ ex work spots’. Special thanks to my dear friend Eline Joseph who did her research with Living Lands in the same time as I 1inside joke: Langkloof is an apple producing area and since pink ladies is a type of apples, our whatsapp group was called ‘the pink ladies’. 6 did. Thanks for wonderful experiences in South Africa and for afterwards supporting me in the Netherlands. Last but not least, my sister, Kikki de Laat and my love, Joris van Maastrigt, who endured my mood swings in times of stress, who love me and are always there for me. Joris made the entire design of this thesis and made the visuals for my presentation. Baie Dankie. 7 8 ABSTRACT This research investigates the actual bene ts people can derive from property rights in land reform in South Africa. Land reform is a government priority since the end of Apartheid in 1994. The main goal is to change the racial pattern of land ownership by transferring 30% of currently white owned land to black people to repeal the legacy of Apartheid. There are three pillars in land reform and one of them, redistribution of property rights, is central in this research. To deconstruct the meaning of these redistributed rights, the ‘bundle of rights’ approach is used to analyze how various rights are expressed in both ‘social units’ and ‘property objects’. To investigate what actual bene ts redistributed rights provide, ‘access’ -de ned as the ability to bene t from a right is used as indicator to unravel the meaning of rights. Through a policy analysis and empirical case studies, both the formal background as well as the daily practices and discrepancies between the two are revealed. The policy analysis rstly shows that the ideal of the South African government is to redistribute private ownership rights. And secondly that in the policies it is presumed that redistributing rights is inherently linked to increased access. The practice shows di erently: it is argued that transferring rights is more than private ownership, as is shown through the various bundles. Case studies of land reform farms in the Langkloof, based on a variety of policies, show that redistributing property rights does not lead to increased access for the previously disadvantaged. A focus on cooperating with the agricultural sector, active and involved bene ciaries and access to among others capital and knowledge is needed to make land reform a success in phase of postsettlement, after the transfer of rights took place. 9 10 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AFASA African Farmers’ Association of South Africa AH AgriHub Unit ANC African National Congress BBBEE Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment BEE Black Economic Empowerment CPA Communal Property Association CPI Common Property Institution CRDP Comprehensive Rural Development Plan DA Democratic Alliance DAFF Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries DFID Department of International Development DLA Department of Land A airs DLC District Land Committees DMR Department of Mineral Resources DoA Department of Agriculture DRDLR Department of Rural Development and Land Reform EF Emerging Farmer EFTT Emerging Farmers Task Team ESTA Extension of Security of Tenure Act FPSU Farmer Production Support Unit FWES Farm Worker Equity Schemes IDP Integrate Development Plan LFA Langkloof Farmers Association LMC Land Management Commission LPM Landness People Movement LR Land Reform LRAD Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development LRMB Land Rights Management Board LSCF Large Scale Commercial Farming LTA Labour Tenants Act NAFU National African Farmers’ Union NDP National Development Plan NPO Non Pro t Organisation PLAS Pro-Active Land Acquisition Strategy PLRO Provincial Land Reform O ces RDP Recapitalisation and Development Programme RDS Rural Department Stategy RUMC Rural Urban Market Center Unit SAAPPA South African Apple and Pear Producers Association SAG South African Government SLAG Settlement/Land Acquisition Grant SONA State of the Nation Address SRR Strengthening of Relative Rights of People Working the Lands TRANCRAA Transformation of Certain Rural Areas Act ZAR ZuidAfrikaanse Rand, South African Rand 11 INDEX Acknowledgement 6 Abstract 9 List of Abbreviations 11 Part I: Welcome in South Africa 17 Introduction to research 19 Part II: Theoretical Framework 23 Chapter 1: Historical positioning and theoretical development 23 1.1 Historical positioning and theoretical introduction 23 1.2 Political ecology 25 1.3 Legal anthropology 27 1.4 Property rights and land reform 33 1.5 Concepts of analysis 33 1.5.1 Deconstructing property rights 33 1.5.2 The bundle of rights analysis 34 1.5.3 Theory of access 37 1.5.4 Social relations and daily practices 39 1.5.5 Political and legal institutional level 40 1.5.6 Ideological level 41 1.5.7 Scale 42 Part III: Methodology 43 Chapter 2: Data gathering and processing 43 2.1 Time and place 43 2.2 Finding people and projects 44 2.3 Methods for data gathering 45 2.4 Writing the thesis 47 2.5 Collaboration with Living Lands 48 2.6 Re ection and position in the eld 50 Part IV: Land Reform Policies 53 Chapter 3: Land Reform Policies: From Apartheid to Black Empowerment 53 3.1 The basis of land reform: White Paper on South African land policy 53 3.2 Redistribution and its rst policy (SLAG) 54 3.3 Land redistribution for agricultural development, LRAD 55 3.3.1 Programs 57 3.4 Proactive land acquisition strategy, PLAS 58 3.5 Current policies and future plans 60 3.5.1 The Green Paper on land reform 60 3.5.2 New policies 62 12 3.5.3 Agri Parks 63 3.5.4 Policy framework on strengthening the relative rights of people working the land (SRR) 63 3.6 Policy remarks and discrepancies 66 Part V: Results and Analysis 69 Chapter 4: LRAD Farm Worker Equity Scheme Eve Brand