Land redistribution in South Africa’s land reform policy: a better way to select beneficiaries

ABSTRACT South Africa’s land reform policy might succeed better if it had clear criteria for selecting beneficiaries for land redistribution. The National Development Plan identifies the intended beneficiaries and states how they should be selected, but implementation of the plan is haphazard. A 2019 report by the Presidency’s Land Reform and Agriculture Advisory Panel recommends that the beneficiary selection process be clear and transparent. In this paper, we respond to the report and expand on a proposal in the 2020 draft Beneficiary Selection Policy. Our study is based on a review of the relevant policies and the literature on beneficiary selection, and a profile of 833 potential land redistribution beneficiaries randomly selected from three provinces in South Africa. We highlight the flaws in the existing selection methods. Building on the suggestion of Vink and Kirsten (2019) of a tender or job application process, we suggest improvements we suggest improvements that could reduce inefficiencies and make the selection process inclusive and transparent.