FIGHTING FIRE WITH A BROKEN TEACUP: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AFRICA'S LAND‐REDISTRIBUTION PROGRAM* |
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| Authors: | WILLIAM G MOSELEY BRENT McCUSKER |
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| Institution: | 1. Dr. Moseley is an associate professor of geography at Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105.;2. Dr. McCusker is an associate professor of geography at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506. |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACT. Since the rise of its first democratically elected government in 1994, South Africa has sought to redress its highly inequitable land distribution through a series of land‐reform programs. In this study we examine land‐redistribution efforts in two of South Africa's provinces, the Western Cape and Limpopo. By analyzing a cross‐section of projects in these two locales we develop a political ecology of stymied land‐reform possibilities to explain the limited progress to date. Given South Africa's ambitious goal of redistributing 30 percent of its white‐owned land by 2014 and the incremental and flawed nature of its redistribution program, we argue that the process is like trying to put out a fire with a broken teacup. Our results are based on interviews with policymakers, commercial farmers, and land‐redistribution beneficiaries, as well as on an analysis of land‐use change in Limpopo Province. |
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| Keywords: | land redistribution Limpopo Province political ecology South Africa Western Cape Province |
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