Land redistribution: South Africans prioritize land taken in forced removals, support ‘willing seller’ approach | Land Portal

Información del recurso

Date of publication: 
Noviembre 2018
Resource Language: 
Pages: 
15
License of the resource: 

In 1913, South Africa’s Land Act set aside 87% of the country’s land for exclusive use and ownership by white people, helping to divide the nation into a relatively prosperous white heartland and a cluster of increasingly impoverished black reserves on the periphery and within cities (Walker, 2017). More than a century later, South Africa is still struggling to redress this historical injustice and the inequality it continues to foster. 

In December 2017, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) resolved to move ahead with land expropriation without compensation to speed up its land-reform program, although a multitude of policy details remain hotly contested (Grootes, 2018). The National Assembly has adopted a motion by the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) endorsing this approach despite warnings of economic meltdown from the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) (Goba, 2018). While the public debate rages on, Parliament’s Joint Constitutional Review Committee has been reviewing comments and submissions on the issue and is expected to announce its recommendation in November regarding a possible constitutional amendment (Parliamentary Monitoring Group, 2018). 

How do average citizens view land reform? Findings from the 2018 Afrobarometer survey show that South Africans want the government to prioritize redistributing land taken during forced removals of Black South Africans half a century ago, followed by agricultural land and vacant land in cities. But the survey also shows majority support for the government’s “willing seller-willing buyer” policy and for the right of farmers to retain ownership of land tenanted by laborers.

Autores y editores

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Sibusiso Nkomo

Publisher(s): 

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in more than 35 countries in Africa. Through our findings, ordinary citizens can have a voice in policy-making processes that affect their lives.

It is the world’s leading research project on issues that affect ordinary African men and women. It collects and publishes high-quality, reliable statistical data on Africa which is freely available to the public.

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