Browsing by Author "Anderson, Megan"

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    Evaluating land and agrarian reform in South Africa : Municipal commonage
    (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2003) Anderson, Megan; Pienaar, Kobus
    This paper compares the performance of the Municipal Commonage Programme of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) with the objectives stated in the White Paper on South African Land Policy (DLA 1997). This paper will review the extent to which the state has met its obligations under the Constitution to take legislative and other measures, within available resources, to advance persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination (Section 9(2)), to enable them to gain access to land on an equitable basis (Section 25(5)), including municipal commonage, and to ensure that their tenure to such land is legally secure (Section 25(6)). The paper provides a definition of municipal commonage and its origin, reviews the development and current status of DLA’s commonage programme, assesses its implementation and outcomes, draws conclusions, and makes recommendations aimed at increasing the positive impact of the programme of land reform in South Africa.
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    Municipal commonage
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2004) Anderson, Megan; Pienaar, Kobus
    The Municipal Commonage Programme of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) aims to enable poor residents to access commonage lands in order to supplement incomes and enhance food security. New commonage accounted for 31% of all land transferred within the redistribution programme by the end of 2002. However, DLA s budget for the period 2003 2005 allocates a mere 3% of budget to this programme. Situations of open access, domination by local elites and land degradation are experienced in many commonage projects. However, this is not unusual such situations are common in a number of land reform programmes. Commonage, with the built-in involvement of the public institution of local government and its regulatory framework, may have a greater chance of success than other forms of land holding. Improved commonage rights allocation processes in Namaqualand and the Hantam-Karoo districts are ensuring sound commonage management and increasingly secure livelihood benefits are delivered to beneficiaries.