The role of land reforms in the alleviation of rural poverty: a study of the Uitkyk community of the North West Province

M.Comm.This dissertation examines the role of land reforms in the alleviation of rural poverty. A three-pronged approach is adopted in the background study process. This includes a review of the South African land reform programme, a review of international experiences in land reforms, and finally, a focused study of the Uitkyk community of the North West Province. Chapter 1 lays the framework for the study and ends up with the fundamentals of the South African land reform programme. Chapter 2 examines experiences in land reforms in three other countries namely, Brazil, China and Zimbabwe. Based on the comparability of these countries to South Africa in various respects, lessons are drawn from their experiences for South Africa. Chapter 3 traces the origin and evolution of the land question among the Uitkyk community and their subsequent quest for restitution. Chapter four presents empirical evidence from a field survey, with subsequent analysis thereof. Finally, Chapter 5 summarises the lessons drawn from the Uitkyk and South African experience and the international experience. It also offers some tentative recommendations for the South African land reform programme. Two fundamental approaches to land reforms are recognised in this dissertation. These include the government-assisted approach and the market based approach. It is difficult to find any pure form of either approaches anywhere on a national scale. However, at different time periods, countries may tend to prefer one approach over the other. After the 2005 National Land Summit, there is growing , momentum for South Africa to switch from a predominantly market-based· approach to a more government-assisted programme. For a land reform programme to be effective, it must go beyond changes in access to resources to actual economic development. Such development is indicated by changes in income, employment, nutrition and education. The evidence from this dissertation suggests that within the Uitkyk community, land reforms may so far have resulted in change in access to land, but not so much in economic development. To advance the goals of land reform, South Africa will have to carefully consider the tradeoffs between two seemingly conflicting goals of land reform, namely, efficiency and equity, Both community and individual beneficiaries of land grants must also take greater responsibility in translating the change in land access to more wealth and better living conditions