Conference Papers and Reports

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Why land invasions will happen here too .....
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2000) Cousins, Ben
Will Zimbabwean-style land invasions take place in South Africa at some point in the future? In my view – yes, it is likely that they will, despite the great differences between the political economies of the two countries. And as in Zimbabwe, land invasions organized by populist politicians will call attention to society’s failure to adequately address deepening rural poverty, and put a dramatic spotlight on the emotive issue of our highly unequal and racially skewed land distribution. This could result in land reform moving higher up the political agenda than it is at present.
Local communities, equity and conservation in southern Africa: A synthesis of lessons learnt and recommendations from a southern African technical workshop
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2003) Whande, Webster; Kepe, Thembela; Murphree, Marshall
This publication reports on a technical workshop entitled ëCommunities and Conservation in Southern Africa: Key Issues and Challenges towards a more Equitable and Sustainable Futureí, which was held on 26ñ28 February 2003 in Pretoria, South Africa, in preparation for the World Parks Congress to be held in Durban in September 2003. The workshop sought to synthesise the extensive experience of southern African countries on community-based conservation and natural resources management into concrete inputs and recommendations for the World Parks Congress 2003.
In search of South Africa’s second economy: Chronic poverty, vulnerability and adverse incorporation in Mt. Frere and Khayelitsha
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2007) du Toit, Andries; Neves, David
Since 2003, South African policy discourse about persistent poverty has been dominated by the notion that poor people stay poor because they are trapped in a ‘second economy’, disconnected from the mainstream ‘first world economy’. This paper considers the adequacy of this notion in the light of research conducted in 2002 and 20052006 in Mount Frere in the rural Eastern Cape, and in Cape Town’s African suburbs. It argues that a process of simultaneous monetization, de-agrarianization and de-industrialization has created a heavy reliance on a formal sector in which employment is becoming increasingly elusive and fragile. Fieldwork suggested high levels of economic integration, corporate penetration and monetization even in the remote rural Eastern Cape. Within this context, survival relies on complex practices of reciprocity in spatially extended urban-rural networks, and on widespread, elusive, economically crucial but fragile forms of informal economic activity and self-employment. Rather than being structurally disconnected from the ‘formal economy’, formal and informal, ‘mainstream’ and marginal activities are often thoroughly interdependent, supplementing or subsidizing one another in complex ways. The dynamics of these diverge significantly from those imagined both in ‘second economy’ discourse and in ‘SMME’ policy. Instead of imagining a separate economic realm, ‘structurally disconnected’ from the ‘first economy,’ it is more helpful to grasp that the South African economy is both unitary and heterogeneous, and that people’s prospects are determined by the specific ways in which their activities are caught up in the complex networks and circuits of social and economic power; and rather than ‘bringing people into’ the mainstream economy policymakers would do better to consider ways of counteracting disadvantageous power and supporting the livelihood strategies that are found at the margins of the formal economy.
Adverse incorporation and agrarian policy in South Africa, Or, How not to connect the rural poor to growth
(2009-02-26) du Toit, Andries
Making rights work: Towards broader role for rights mobilisation in challenging poverty and inequality in South Afric
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) Tissington, Kate
This paper contemplates a broader conceptualisation/role for socio-economic rights use and mobilisation in South Africa, which not only mitigates the effects of poverty and inequality but also undertakes to address the systemic causes. A brief analysis of poverty and inequality is undertaken which highlights the need for a pro-poor growth path that promotes job creation in South Africa, and the need for public spending to be more effective and efficient. Socio-economic rights are briefly contextualised and a number of critiques of rights discourse and mobilisation are advanced with a view to advocate for a broader conceptualisation of, and usefulness for, a rights-based approach to challenging poverty and inequality. Rights are described as a tactical and political tool, with lawyers having a unique role to play in this regard. Finally, some empirical evidence is discussed around two case studies dealing with litigation in the in the inner city of Johannesburg, and mobilising around informal settlement upgrading in Gauteng.
Overcoming inequality and structural poverty in South Africa
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) PLAAS
Data indicates that between 1994 and 2008 poverty in South Africa declined marginally, but that inequality continues to increase, and the full impact of the rise in unemployment following the global financial crisis has yet to be fully quantified. Structural poverty and inequality continue to impact adversely on all people living in South Africa, reinforcing the need for an approach that adequately addresses the interrelated nature of poverty and inequality. With this context in mind, the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), in partnership with the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), Isandla Institute, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and the Programme to Support Pro-poor Policy Development (PSPPD) proposed a conference that would draw together the extensive experience and research relating to poverty and inequality that has been undertaken in South Africa to date, and which would address the key question: What has more than a decade of research and policy making about chronic and structural poverty in South Africa taught us about poverty and how best to reduce it as swiftly and sustainably as possible?
Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010) Section B
(Land, Environment and Development Project, Legal Assistance Centre, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
The first AALS farmers in Hardap obtained their land in 1992, and the most recent in 2003. In Omaheke, the first AALS farmer obtained his farm in 1992 and the most recent, a woman, in 2000. Thus in both regions the oldest AALS beneficiaries have been farming as such for 17 years. All 10 AALS farming households interviewed in Hardap Region were male-headed. Eight of the household heads were married with a civil marriage certificate, one was widowed and one was single. One farm was registered in a wife’s name while her husband waited for his AALS loan to be approved. All the others farms were registered in the names of the household heads. The AALS farm sizes ranged from 3500 ha to 20000 ha.
Apartheid space and fractured power: Vicious cycles of poverty in Cornfields, KwaZulu-Natal
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) Del Grande, Lisa; Hornby, Donna
Apartheid space and fractured power: vicious cycles of poverty in Cornfields, KwaZulu-Natal A neglected area in the literature on structural poverty is changing land tenure relations and the disconnect with planning frameworks, which lock particular areas into ‘vicious’ cycles of poverty. These areas include some tribal authority, “black freehold” and land reform areas. In this paper, we focus on the case study of Cornfields, a black freehold area and an early land reform project. We argue that under apartheid black freehold areas became ‘special purpose places’, which, while facing forced removals, played the role of re-incorporating ‘surplus people’, and in the process created bases for localized authority that were not derived exclusively from either formal or tribal property systems. Land reform and the introduction of developmental local government further multiplied the sources of localized power, increasing conflict and eroding the community’s ability to act collectively to access national development plans, thus consolidating trajectories into deeper poverty.
Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)
(Land, Environment and Development Project, Legal Assistance Centre, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
How social security policies and economic transformation affect poverty and inequality: Lessons for South Africa
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) Ulriksen, Marianne
This article examines how various characteristics of social and economic policy frameworks affect poverty and inequality levels in developing countries, principally in Botswana and Mauritius. The research findings suggest that poverty and inequality are lower in countries with generous and broad-based – rather than pro-poor – social security policies, and where social policies are complemented by economic policies promoting economic transformation more so than merely economic growth. While South Africa’s challenges of combating poverty and inequality are shaped by its own historical context, the lessons from other countries offer the opportunity to reflect on the social consequences of various social and economic policy mixtures. Particularly, it may be worth considering how to bridge the divide between the economically productive contributors to social security policies and the economically marginalised beneficiaries of such policies.
Resilience and response-ability: Towards just water service provision the context of climate change
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) WWilson, Jessica; Pereira, Taryn
Climate change will impact on water service provision, yet it is not integrated into water sector policies and plans. This paper unpacks some of the reasons for this disjuncture: the complex and overwhelming challenge of universal water provision even in the absence of climate change; and the real threat that climate change poses to predictable water availability. Current climate change response policies and practices fall short of what is necessary and also threaten to deepen social inequity. Without considered intervention, climate change impacts on water provision will exacerbate social stratification and inequality, making the lives of poor people harsher and even more arginalised by further limiting access to quality water and sanitation services that are necessary to support a safe, healthy and dignified life. The paper argues that shifts need to happen at both personal and structural levels to build effective resilience, and suggests interventions that could facilitate these shifts.
Water for agrarian reform and rural poverty eradication: Where is the leak?
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) Schreiner, Barbara; Tapela, Barbara; van Koppen, Barbara
The distribution of water use is undoubtedly the sharpest inequality inherited from the past in South Africa, with a Gini Coefficient of 0.96 and higher. Unfortunately, as the review in this paper suggests, the gap is even further widening for the large majority of black communities in informal rural and peri-urban areas. Neither government nor civil society has been very effective in tapping the potential of water storage and infrastructure development on a large enough scale to mitigate seasonal and annual variability and unpredictability of rainfall and, thus, to improve year-round productivity of agriculture-based livelihood strategies, such as cropping, horticulture, livestock, tree growing, brick making, crafts, and small-scale enterprises. The paper’s analysis highlights that a champion department for storage and infrastructure development, which coordinates well with other departments, is lacking in post-1994 South Africa. The Department of Water Affairs has mainly been focusing on the regulation of existing and new large-scale water uses, among others through the new water entitlements regime of water use licenses. International experience has shown that formal license systems tend to ignore well-functioning informal arrangements, while privileging the administration-proficient. In spite of pertinent legal and policy statements about the re-allocation of water from the haves to the have-nots, the Water Allocation Reform (WAR) programme, led by the Department of Water Affairs since 2005, has had little impact. The legal option of priority General Authorizations for small-scale water uses, based on a quantification of the inequities, is proposed as an alternative or additional approach. The drastic withdrawal of pre-1994 support to smallholder irrigation schemes by the Department of Agriculture led to widespread partial or full collapse of irrigation schemes. The revitalization of these schemes appears highly problematic. Joint ventures tend to generate a small group of elite ‘arm-chair farmers’ at the expense of many more plot holders whose land is taken. In the meantime, the scarce remaining water resources are rapidly taken up by the minority formal economy, which fiercely protects this expansion. Indeed, for most rural and peri-urban poor, their own informal initiative is the major way to obtain access to water for productive uses. In various pockets, such informal water development is vibrant. The paper concludes with the importance of recognizing and building on these informal arrangements.
Alleviating urban energy poverty in the informal sector: The role for local government
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) Wolpe, Peta; Reddy, Yachika
The depth and severity of poverty and inequality persists in South Africa, despite progressive pro-poor policies. Strong evidence also points to the unbridled growth in informality and remaining as a long-term feature of our landscape. Energy poverty is most severely experienced by those living in this sector. Against this backdrop, this paper sets out to explore through the analysis of urban energy poverty in informal settlements the challenges of developmental local government in its approaches to energy service delivery to this sector. It concludes that these developmental challenges require transformation at multiple levels of government in order to truly fulfil the constitutional objectives of poverty alleviation and to promote development and growth in South Africa. At the local level responsive solutions and capacity to undertake this is required, while at the macro-level, strengthened leadership and enhanced intergovernmental coordination is required to change the status quo.
Developmental social policies for the poor in South Africa: Exploring options to enhance impacts?
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) Jacobs, Peter; Ngcobo, Nonkululeko; Hart, Tim; Baipheti, Mompati
Options to enhance the developmental impact of South Africa’s comprehensive suite of social protection policies have attracted considerable research and policy interest. The country’s society safety nets appear to be well-target at its intended beneficiaries (poor and vulnerable households) as manifested in reduced levels of income poverty among social grant recipients. To date a plethora of mixed results exist on its immediate and short-term impacts on fiscal spending trade-offs and disincentive effects to participate in labour markets. However, in the context of structural poverty the need exists to better understand the potential longer-range developmental spin-offs of targeted social spending. This paper contributes to this expanding body of research with a specific focus on how social grant payment options might be used to enhance the developmental impact of social grants. It constructs a conceptual framework which connects the developmental potential of cash, in-kind and voucher payment options with development interventions targeting smallholder farm production, employment and child development. It brings together evidence on relevant global and local case studies, using a typology derived from the conceptual framework.
Experience of ‘hybrid organisations in promoting meaningful rural livelihoods: Lessons from Africa, India and the Americas
(2010) Scott-Goldman, Judy; Rubambey, Grace; Asiago, Joel; Kingman, Andrew; Goldman, Ian
A Ford Foundation Rural Livelihoods Learning Group carried out a study into ‘hybrid’ organisations and strategies between July 2008 and September 2009. Twenty –one case studies were completed of hybrid organisations spread over India, Africa, North, Central and Latin America. The paper describes the services offered by the eight African case studies ranging from micro-finance, business development services to value chain development, and draws out the approach and characteristics of hybrid organisations as identified in the global study. Hybrid organisations offer multiple services, either internally or through partnerships, in order to build a comprehensive systemic response to multiple needs. Success requires the ability to create access to assets, to build agency and voice of individuals and communities, to support the development of secure livelihoods through technological, business and market improvement and relevant training, and changing the rules of the game to make them work more in favour of the poor.
The Monster from the Green Lagoon Assessing the 2011 Green Paper on Land Reform
(2011) Cousins, Ben
Background • Consensus across the board that LR is in deep trouble and unlikely to meet targets • Some argue that food security is of rising concern, given rising food prices (here and globally) • Minister Nkwinti: “90% of LR projects have failed”; “30% of land reform farms sold by beneficiaries” • But no clear basis for these claims in available data – and they are damaging to LR as a national project ....
Beyond populism or paralysis: a real debate on South Africa’s land reform trajectory
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2011) PLAAS
On 24 October 2011 the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) convened a public dialogue on South Africa’s land reform trajectory at Townhouse Hotel and Conference Centre in Cape Town. Present were a wide range of actors from researchers and academics, social movements and civil society, the private sector and provincial government. The aim of the session was to engage in informed and constructive dialogue around the issues concerning land reform and rural development with an immediate objective to work towards alternative proposals for a new legislative framework on Land Reform in South Africa. An envisaged output in the short term was a joint, or several collaborative formal comments on the Green Paper on Land Reform recently released by the Department for Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR), to be submitted before the 25 November deadline.
A tale of two dorpies: Case studies from Limpopo and a perspective on land reform and rural development policy
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2011) Aliber, Michael; Paradza, Gaynor
“Rural development is about enabling rural people to take control of their destiny, thereby dealing effectively with rural poverty through the optimal use and management of natural resources” (MRDLR 2009:14).
Retribalisation in post-apartheid South Africa: new “traditional” laws & their impacts on rural women
(2011) Jara, Mazibuko
• The rise of traditional leaders – in political, economic, governmental, judicial & legislative terms – amounts to a modern, post-apartheid retribalisation of the countryside • Deleterious effect on rights • Roots of “traditional” power not deleted by Constitution – Arguably, Constitution opened door to ongoing contestation that has been used to claw back on rights
Making investment work for Africa: A parliamentarian response to “land grabs”
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2011) PLAAS
A new wave of foreign investment in Africa’s farmland and water was triggered in 2008 by the growing demand in Europe and North America for biofuels, spikes in oil prices, the global food crisis and the world financial crisis. Widespread media coverage and a series of studies by the UN, World Bank, universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), confirmed the scale and consequences. In its report Rising Global Interest in Farmland, the World Bank reported that land deals in Africa amounted to 32 million hectares in 2009 alone, larger than the total land area of Ghana or the United Kingdom. The countries that leased the most land to investors were Sudan (4 million hectares), Mozambique (2.7 million hectares), Liberia (1.6 million hectares) and Ethiopia (between 1.3 and 3.6 million hectares). Africa’s 832 million inhabitants represent 13 per cent of the world’s population but account for only 1 per cent of global gross domestic product and 2 per cent of world trade. The prevalence of people living on less than one dollar a day still remains a serious obstacle to development. More than 70 per cent of poor people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.

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