LAND REFORM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Land reform entails initiatives embodied in legislative, policy and other measures, constituting actions and mechanisms aimed at broadening access to land, improving security of tenure and restoring land or rights in land, all of which have become necessary because of the historical racial and inequitable approach to land in South Africa. Land reform therefore, consists of three main pillars, namely restitution of land rights, redistribution of land rights and improving security of a wide range of tenure forms. The focus of this paper is primarily on land tenure reform as an important element of land reform. The emphasis is on the legal arrangements used in South Africa to effect land tenure reform. The aim is to investigate the adequacy, flaws, challenges and effectiveness of the legal arrangements used in South Africa to effect land tenure reform. The qualitative method of research will be employed in this study. The reason is that it is best suited to this type of study which entails a critical analysis of legal issues. The study inter alia makes the finding that if land reform is pursued merely on the basis of political ideology and expediency, the economic and social costs will soon outstrip the perceived benefits of radical land acquisition. At the same time, it must however, be recognised that the majority have reasonable expectations for land holding patterns to change in order to address historical imbalances. The researcher concludes by submitting that property can no longer be seen, as it was defined in the common-law tradition, an island of sovereignty where the individual can do whatever she likes. Caution should be taken, therefore, in seeing property rights as the means by which to best secure tenure rights. Rather, security of tenure grounded in the human rights framework should be clearly articulated and properly seen as a fundamental human right.