Land Reform and Rural Livelihood in South Africa: Does Access to Land Matter?

Horman Chitonge and Lungisile Ntsebeza
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Horman Chitonge: Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, horman.chitonge@uct.ac.za.
Lungisile Ntsebeza: Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, lntsebeza@gmail.com.

Journal, 2012, vol. 2, issue 1, 87-111

Abstract: This paper presents the main findings of a study conducted in 2009 and 2010 of land redistribution projects in the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM), focusing on the question of whether land transferred through the land reform programme in South Africa is making a contribution to improving the livelihoods of beneficiaries. The paper highlights three main findings of this study. First, the acquisition of land has improved, in some cases vastly, the socio-economic conditions of beneficiaries. Secondly, land reform beneficiary households and those who acquired land on their own in commercial farm areas are far better off (on average) than their counterparts in the communal areas, who have limited access to land. Thirdly, most land reform beneficiaries are able to improve their livelihoods with very limited or, in many instances, no support from the state. These findings contradict the gloomy picture painted by most studies on land reform and livelihoods, as well as recent pronouncements by some senior government officials and analysts that land transferred through land reform is not improving the livelihoods of beneficiaries, that it is not being used, and that black Africans are no longer interested in land as a means of livelihood.

Keywords: access to land; land reform; beneficiaries; non-beneficiaries; livelihoods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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