AFRA Newsletter No.62

Land and Local Government: Implications of Restitution 

Land and Local Government: Problem or Potential (Part 2) 

AFRA Newsletter No. 64 

The book provides the history of land issues in South Africa.

On the 10th of December 2009 AFRA celebrated its work over the past 30 years at the Anglican Cathedral, where speakers reflected on the past, present and future of the organisation. Forming part of our 30th anniversary a Great Land Debate was held, where some of AFRA’s senior members were part of the panel discussion. Major land topics were discussed. Previous AFRA staff, a wide range of community representatives that the organisation works with, government stakeholders and civil society organisations, attended the celebration.

This article reviews the past and potential future roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as responses to population growth in the process of land use intensification and livelihood transformation. The farm size distribution and the existence of an inverse relationship (IR) between farm size and land productivity in SSA and the implications of this relationship for efficiency and equity are investigated.

This case study provides a comparative analysis of two different initiatives designed to grow small
scale agricultural production in Cape Town.

This cases study provided the background for a five day field based learning programme in D2007 as part of the learning programme linked to the development of a settlement and implementation support programme for land reform. The Dwesa Cweba land claim involved communities who had been removed to make way for the establishment of the Dwesa Cwebe Reserve - an protected area combining indigenous coastal forest, marine and nature reserves.

This review follows a five day day field based learning session on the failure to implement the co management agreement in Dwesa Cwebe. It highlights a range of problems evident in 2007/8 including:

The report is structured into nine chapters and an appendix:

Phuhlisani undertook this study to investigate agricultural options for six land holding communities which had each contributed land to a joint venture. The study focused on potential land uses for land hweld by the entities but that was part of the joint venture: including

• Arable land for household production
• Arable land for small‐scale commercial production
• Sustainable use of the grazing land