23 July 2024; Land Reform – Johannesburg: The creation of a new, standalone ministry to oversee the implementation of land reform and spearhead rural development may be the resolution needed to put emphasis on the land restitution and redistribution programme and give impetus to what is needed to expedite the resolution of the land question and drive a successful land reform programme.
So says Peter Setou, Chief Executive of the Vumelana Advisory Fund, a non-profit organisation that helps beneficiaries of the land reform programme to use restored land productively to create much-needed jobs, income and skills.
The new cabinet of the 7th administration announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa comes with some notable changes that have seen the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development emerge as a single, autonomous ministry apart from the Department of Agriculture. Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) leader Mzwanele Nyhontsho has been appointed as the new minister who will oversee the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development whilst Minister John Steenhuisen will be responsible for the Department of Agriculture.
Land reform has been largely cricitised in the past for its failure to enrich its beneficiaries, the lack of post-settlement support and the sluggish pace in which restitution has been implemented. This has been exacerbated by the many underperforming restituted farms and the extensive fallow land still awaiting redistribution.
President Ramaphosa has conceded that the land reform programme has been lacklustre and that it has performed well below expectation. Since its inception in 1994, the land reform programme has been beset by bureaucratic delays, patronage, political influence, and infighting and opportunism among beneficiaries and landowners.
Setou points out that the new minister of Rural Development and Land Reform has the opportunity to re-write the narrative of land reform by plugging the structural gaps afflicting the land reform programme and taking stock of the lessons learned through botched land reform endeavours. There is an opportunity for the new Minister to address the bottlenecks hampering land reform, by accelerating, for example, the operationalisation of the Land Reform and Agricultural Development Agency, adequately resourcing to enable the efficiency of the Land Court and Land Court of Appeal to deal with claims for restitution of land; and facilitate the expeditious disposal of cases, among others.” Setou says. “While the land reform programme has largely been a hit and miss initiative since its inception 30 years ago, there are some pockets of success that can be replicated and some important learnings that can be applied to re-write the narrative of the land reform programme.
“As an organisation that works closely with the beneficiary communities and landowners, we have identified capacity building as one of the important cornerstones that anchors a successful land reform programme. The creation of a dedicated department that will oversee land reform and rural development is a step in the right direction, and if focus is placed on pressing priorities in land reform, the department will be able to address the bottlenecks that continue to impede the realisation of a successful land reform programme.”
Setou highlights that the priority for land reform should be to realise the agenda for restitution, while at the same time maintaining productivity, attracting investment, creating employment, enabling communities to generate an income and contributing to the broader social and economic challenges that South Africa continues to face. Vumelana is ready to forge an even closer partnership with the reconfigured Departments to share lessons learnt and use these to upscale in order to achieve meaningful impact.
Private sector participation in land reform
Setou notes that partnerships and joint commercial ventures between the land reform beneficiary communities and private investors remains one salient and common feature that is prevalent in the successful land reform projects that Vumelana has facilitated over the last 12 years. There are lessons to learn from the partnerships that have been facilitated between land reform beneficiaries and private investors.
The private sector has the requisite resources, skills and expertise needed to drive a successful land reform programme, resources that claimant communities do not have due to historical injustices.
Setou explains that through its community private partnerships (CCPs) land reform beneficiary communities and the private sector enter into mutually beneficial partnerships that enable beneficiaries to generate income from their restituted land, acquire skills, create jobs and better understand the markets; while private investors, working in partnership with beneficiary communities, have the opportunity to run profitable enterprises on restituted land to maintain the productive use of the land.
He argues that Vumelana has seen several cases where private sector participation in land reform has helped to address competency gaps within beneficiary communities by facilitating access to markets and finance and that this has spurred investment in production and employment and led to skills transfer.
To date Vumelana has facilitated 26 partnerships through the CPP model putting approximately 70 000 hectares of land into productive use, benefiting over 20 000 households and attracting over R1 billion in potential investments.
“We wish to congratulate both Minister Nyhontsho and Minister Steenhuisen on their appointment and hope this will infuse much-needed vigour into the land reform programme and agriculture and will receive the requisite support to ensure the realisation of this important political and socio-economic imperative,” Setou says. “Our view is that the two ministries do not need to reinvent the wheel but needs to focus on, expediting the restitution process, to successfully implement policies and plans already in place, to drive the productive use of land to ensure that restituted land benefits the people, creates jobs, enriches lives and becomes a driving force for social and economic development.”