South Africa’s land reform programme remains far from complete despite decades of work to compensate people for lost land, transfer land to the landless and restore tenure rights.

By Amelia Genis, Senior Journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad

Speaking at the Land, Life and Society Conference at the University of the Western Cape on 7 October, Mzwanele Nyhontso, minister of land reform and rural development, said although government had made progress, inequality in land ownership remained stark.

The conference was hosted by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS).

“Millions of hectares of land have been transferred, the rights of many families have been secured, and communities have seen their ancestral land returned to them,” Nyhontso said. “And yet we know it is not enough.

“Too much land is still concentrated in the hands of too few owners, while women, young people and farm workers continue to live in marginal circumstances. Poverty and food insecurity remain widespread in rural areas.”

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Successes and Shortcomings

Nyhontso said South Africa has pursued a three-pronged land reform strategy since 1994: restitution, redistribution and tenure reform. The restitution programme returns land to people or compensates them for land they lost, the redistribution programme allocates land to landless people or those with little land, and the tenure reform programme secures the precarious land rights of vulnerable groups.

He acknowledged both the successes and shortcomings of the process, from landmark victories such as the restitution of mineral rights in the Richtersveld to failures where redistributed land has not led to sustainable livelihoods for beneficiaries.

“Through it all,” he said, “the government stands by its belief that land reform is not an option – it lies at the heart of South Africa’s efforts to achieve justice, democracy and development.”