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PLAAS was founded in 1995 as a specialist unit in the School of Government, Economic and Management Sciences Faculty at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Town. Since then, PLAAS has developed a proven track record of undertaking high-quality research on land and agrarian reform, poverty, and natural resource management in South Africa and the southern African region.
Besides research and postgraduate teaching, PLAAS undertakes training, provides advisory, facilitation and evaluation services and is active in the field of national policy development. Through these activities, and by seeking to apply the tools of critical scholarship to questions of policy and practice, we seek to develop new knowledge and fresh approaches to the transformation of society in southern Africa.
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Displaying 6 - 10 of 54Land reform – the solution to rural poverty?
Following the end of apartheid, South Africa’s government set itself ambitious goals with a planned land reform. However, there have since been barely any changes in the country’s agricultural structure, and the positive impacts that were hoped for on rural livelihoods have hardly materialised. A critical assessment of 22 years of land reform policies.
Working Paper 39: Understanding South African food and agricultural policy – Implications for agri-food value chains, regulation, and formal and informal livelihoods
In order to create credibility and sustainability between policies, to avoid political confusion and to reassure “investor confidence”, a clear agri-food policy package needs to be in place. To achieve this, policy packages should be constructed to give coherence, with an explicit goal and set of objectives, underscoring accountability to delivery. Considering current policy debates, the questions pursued in this paper are: does a clear vision guide existing and emerging agriculture and food policies and are a clear set of measures defined to achieve this vision?
Land reform in South Africa is sinking. Can it be saved?
The author looks at the past 22 years of land reform in South Africa. What is going wrong in South Africa’s post-apartheid land reform programme, and how can its failings be addressed? 22 years after the transition to democracy and the commencement of land reform, there is a great deal of lived experience to reflect upon and a rich literature to draw on. He offers a diagnosis of failures, suggest a new narrative for land reform, and offers some provocations around alternative policies.
Understanding land acquisitions in Namibia’s communal land: Impacts and policy implications
Members of rural communities in Namibia often lack a basic understanding of what their user rights and responsibilities are under the Communal Land Reform Act and are also unaware of their rights to object to a proposed land allocation or to appeal a decision once made. The large-scale acquisition of land for agriculture and conservation projects often displace local communities or reduce their access to control and ownership of key resources due to the gaps between good legislation and inadequate implementation and enforcement.
Zimbabwe’s new land crisis: Large-scale land investments at Chisumbanje
Report based on fieldwork in Chisumbanje seeks to understand: 1) the interest and role of the Zimbabwe Government and its contribution to the first large-scale private investments undertaken by GreenFuel in Chisumbanje; 2) the impact of the project on local communities’ land rights and livelihoods; 3) the role of the local institutions in facilitating and mediating investment, particularly on land; 4) the capacity of local and national institutions to structure a land agreement palatable to the local communities; and 5) the role of GreenFuel as the land user.