5. The Struggle for Land Restitution and Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa

The chapter employs a historical and analytical approach to presenting the process through which the colonial powers and subsequent governments maintained dominance of land ownership in South Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, and describes the progress towards land restitution and reform in post-apartheid South Africa. The necessity to redistribute land in post-colonial Africa within the context of this book, provides the backdrop to the need for land restitution and reform. This chapter also provides an overview of the existing policy framework that proposes to deal with the vexing problem facing South Africa, and explains that land reform has become complex and difficult in the continent and particularly in South Africa. The complexity does not only have to accommodate the land hunger problem, and agitation for land ownership, but the drafting and implementation of land tenure, restitution and redistribution policies to address the diverse challenges of confronting land reform in South Africa. Furthermore, it is required in the context of a democratic constitution that was crafted to transition peacefully into a democratic state or much desired “rainbow nation”, to prevent post-apartheid conflict and in particular “land-grabbing” actions that would have the potential not only to destabilise the state, but also that of the very buoyant agricultural economy.