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Land Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa A Case Study of challenges and opportunities for Land Reform Beneficiaries in the Western and Northern Cape Provinces Kjersti Gjuvsland Master Thesis May 2009 Department of Administration and Organization Theory University of Bergen NORWAY Abstract The differences caused by the Apartheid system have set its mark on the South African society and are still very evident through the separation of society according to colour, the uneven distribution of resources, but also through the extensive lack of trust in society in general. During Apartheid the white areas developed and had much of the resources, knowledge, corporations and property. The rural areas and the Homelands were poor and to a large degree dependent on employment from the white landowners and companies. Hence, one part of the population has well-established markets and organisations, while the former Homelands and rural areas are in need of assistance through grants, financing, education, training and so on. In 1994 the newly elected ANC government gave promise of 30 percent land redistributed back to the dispossessed in 5 years through an extensive Land and Agrarian Land Reform Programme. In 2005, 3 percent of the land had been redistributed (Gran 2006: 192). It is against this context of persistent poverty among the previously oppressed in the rural areas and a clear failure of the land reform to perform as supposed at the outset, that this thesis sets out to explore communal problem-solving through the theories of nodal governance and social capital. The primary research techniques applied in order to investigate this has been document analysis and qualitative interviews with a couple of main informants. Subsequently there has been conducted two case studies of land reform projects in South Africa; the Goodhouse community in the Northern Cape Province, and the Vuki Farm in the Western Cape Province. By use of the variables trust, networks and character of authority intervention, the thesis has attempted to identify characteristics of opportunities and challenges for these groups of land reform beneficiaries. The sole focus has been to investigate the possibilities to improve the delivery of land reform in the deprived rural areas of South Africa by focussing on the case studies and their relations towards the governance networks connected to agriculture in the New South Africa. ii Acknowledgement An adventurous journey, both personally and scientific, is about to end, and I have many people that needs to be acknowledged for their important contribution in this master thesis taking shape. First of all, my supervisor Jan Froestad; you have been an incredible support in guiding me through a challenging process. All though I have for longer periods of time been on the other side of the world, I have always been able to count on your feedback and helpful advice. In addition, my second supervisor Professor Thorvald Gran; your views and observations and moreover, your written contributions on the field of Land Reform in South Africa has been to immense support and inspiration. What is more, throughout the time I have spent in Bergen working on this thesis, all the members at the PGI-seminars, containing both students and staff at the Department of Administration and Organisation Theory, have been of great assistance in terms of support, motivation and recommendations. There are also a number of people in South Africa that have been vital for this thesis. First of all Karin Kleinbooi with PLAAS at UWC; thank you so much for taking time to meet and giving me advice and information. You have played an important part in the gathering of data and have overall been a great motivator. Moreover, Alie van Jaarsveld at the Ministry of Agriculture in Cape Town; I am truly grateful for all your information and support, and also for how you connected me with important people and information in the Western Cape case, like Mr. Witbooi at Vuki and Mr. Freysen at the DLA in Stellenbosch; Thanks to all of you for your time and assistance! In the Northern Cape case, Mr. Henk Smith with the Legal Resource Centre in Cape Town needs to be accredited; ‘Baaie Dankie’ for your valuable time and information and for pushing me forward. Further, thanks so much to all you guys at The Surplus Peoples Project in Springbok, and especially Mr. Harry May who gave me priceless information about a project that was challenging to get people to talk about. All though my supervisors and informants have been a vital part of this thesis, there is always a chance that there are issue or topics that has been wrongfully perceived or undermined. If there are any such misconceptions noticed by the ones that take their time to read through the document; any mistaken interpretations are entirely my responsibility. To all my friends, study mates at UiB and all you guys at the study hall at Lindstrøms particularly; thanks for all advice, understanding, good times and countless coffee breaks. Furthermore, I am forever grateful to everybody in my enthusiastic and caring family for your iii devotion and belief in me, and especially Monica and Ann-Christin (you are practically my family as well) that have taken time to listen to my master-related issues and look through my work. To all you other dear friends of mine; I am incredibly lucky and grateful to have such an amazing group of people around me. Last, but not least, Werner; thank you for being who you are, and for all your love, understanding and dedication (as i.e. driving me across South Africa to do research…). I love you. Cape Town, May 2009 Kjersti Gjuvsland _____________________ Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen, Christiesgt.17, N-5007 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: [email protected] iv Table of Contents ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................................................. III TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................................... V LIST OF MODELS ........................................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................................... VIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2: THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA ...................................................................................................... 3 2.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 PROMISES OF LAND REFORM ......................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 ISSUES OF TRUST IN ‘T HE NEW SOUTH AFRICA ’ ............................................................................................ 6 2.4 LAND REFORM ............................................................................................................................................... 8 2.5 THE LAND REFORM PROGRAMMES ................................................................................................................ 9 2.5.1 Land Restitution .................................................................................................................................. 10 2.5.2 Tenure Reform .................................................................................................................................... 12 2.5.2.1 Farm Tenure Reform ........................................................................................................................ 12 2.5.2.2 Communal Tenure Reform ............................................................................................................... 12 2.5.3 Land Redistribution ............................................................................................................................ 14 2.6 RECENT ACTIVITIES ..................................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 3: THE CASES ................................................................................................................................ 19 3.1 LAND REFORM IN NORTHERN AND WESTERN CAPE .................................................................................... 19 3.2 NAMAQUALAND .................................................................................................................................. 21 3.3 GOODHOUSE PAPRIKA PROJECT .................................................................................................................. 22 3.4 THE OVERBERG DISTRICT ................................................................................................................... 25 3.5 VUKI FARM ......................................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................