This paper provides an overview of landreform in South Africa from 1994 to 2011, with the focus onthe land redistribution. The government policies andassociated implementation since 1994 have not generatedexpected social and economic results for a number ofreasons. Even where land has been transferred, it appears tohave had minimal impact on the livelihoods of beneficiaries,largely because of inappropriate project design, a lack ofnecessary support services and shortages of working capital,leading to widespread underutilization of land. There is noevidence to suggest that land reform has led to improvementsin agricultural efficiency, income, employment or economicgrowth. Therefore, the current approach, based onacquisition of land through the open market, minimal supportto new farmers, and bureaucratic imposition of productionmodels loosely based on existing commercial operators, isunlikely to transform the rural economy and lift people outof poverty.The paper argues that there are two importantmissing aspects in the land reform program.First, there isan absence of any viable small-farmer path to development,which could enable the millions of households residing inthe communal areas and on commercial farms to expand theirown production and accumulate wealth and resources in anincremental manner.Making this happen would requireradical restructuring of existing farm units to createfamily-size farms, more realistic farm planning, appropriatesupport from a much-reformed state agricultural service, anda much greater role for beneficiaries in the design andimplementation of their own projects. Second, what isclearly missing from the governance tradition is thesustained focus on implementation, resource mobilization,and timely policy adjustment. Much more will be required forland reform program to contribute significantly to economicgrowth and to the redistribution of wealth and opportunitiesto the majority of the population.
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