A critical appraisal of South Africa's market-based land reform policy

Chapter 6: LRAD projects in Limpopo
withal, information and contacts to obtain
state land on a lease basis some years ago.
Due to holding the leases, they then
became the lucky beneficiaries of a
government decision to dispose of that
land through LRAD. Mr Tshivase, who
acquired a white-owned farm, had access
to significant credit and an ability to seek
out the professional assistance he needed,
for example approaching the estate agent
and finalising a deal with the landowner.
Mr Kutumela had a civil servant’s retirement
package to enable him to make the
investment required.
The group beneficiaries appear to be
largely poor rural dwellers. However, they
were not without some useful connections.
The Vaalkop project was an initiative of the
church that owned the land. The initiation
of the Mankweng Integrated project was
assisted by the beneficiaries being both
ANC Women’s League members who
attend municipal meetings, and the fact
that they came from the same community
as the Provincial Director of Land Affairs
(interview 19).
Some of the respondents have experience
of farming, mostly gained from their
parents on communal land. For example
Mr Ramuthaga (interview 5) said he started
gaining farming knowledge from his father
at the age of 12. He then bought some of
his own cattle in 1992 and kept them on
communal land. Others have been farming
as far back as 1970 and have farmed in a
number of different communal areas
(interview 6). Only one farm worker has
become a beneficiary and that was in the
Mankweng Integrated project, where the
project incorporated an existing worker
on the land (interview 19). Other farm
workers who are involved remain as
workers with no increased stake in the
farms.
Production, employment and
sustainability
As there has been no change in the
production on any of the farms due to
LRAD, with the possible exception of the
Vele project, one cannot claim any positive
production impact nor any increase in
employment. The farming operations on
the state land that makes up most of the
land transferred were run by the same
farmers before the LRAD initiative. The
Vaalkop project has not involved any
change in living or production patterns as
yet, and would appear to be more orientated
to housing, given the number of
people involved who all live on the land.
The Mankweng Integrated project has not
yet started production, but the fact that it is
providing less than one hectare per beneficiary
indicates that the project will
struggle to create a livelihood for those
involved.
The individually-owned farms employ
from 1–7 people per farm, with most of
them employing only one or two people.
These employees are all labourers and
from discussions with the farmers it
emerged that they are paid around R300
per month. The workers also receive
benefits such as accommodation and
sometimes maize meal and access to fresh
milk from the cows. There does not seem
to be any intention to comply with the
legal minimum wage for agricultural
workers. 3
This study did not include any detailed
economic or livelihood analysis of the
projects, which would be a useful topic for
further research. However, some of the
information provided by beneficiaries
gives an indication of the benefit of the
land to them. The farmers at Steilloop, and
Mr Kutumela, all rely primarily on farming
for their livelihoods and some of them
report making a reasonable income. Mr
Kgatla sold 65 cattle in 2002 and said he
made around R165 000 (interview 15).
Mr Lehong was also confident that he is
making a reasonable profit and claimed
that he now has two cars and is able to
send his children to school and college
(interview 13).
The farmers at Manamead, and Mr
Tshivase of the Vele Project, all rely on
other sources of livelihood and some of
them reported that they are currently
subsidising the farms with their own
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