Elite Capture in South Africa’s Land Redistribution: The Convergence of Policy Bias, Corrupt Practices and Class Dynamics

Land reforms are an important mechanism for addressing inequalities in society. While addressing South Africa’s racialised land inequalities remains crucial, new forms of class inequality are produced through land reform, with the well-off becoming predominant as beneficiaries. This article focuses on elite capture in land redistribution and analyses land-reform outcomes in South Africa’s state land lease and disposal policy (SLLDP). The article presents empirical evidence from 62 land-reform farms in five provinces of South Africa and shows how policy biases in favour of well-off beneficiaries converge with corruption and rent-seeking practices to produce uneven agrarian outcomes. Beneficiary selection and targeting inherently favour well-off beneficiaries, who are considered competent to engage in large-scale commercial farming. Land reform is a new frontier of accumulation for different agribusinesses, urban-based businesspeople and state officials, who increasingly benefit from cheap state land and various forms of production support meant to recapitalise land-reform farms.