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Item Access to land and rural poverty in South Africa(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2012-09) Cousins, BenThe big picture: some history • Large-scale land dispossession from 1652 into the late 20th century • 1913 and 1936 Land Acts: African majority confined to 13% of country • Forced removals in apartheid years: 2.5 million people (1955 to 1990) • By 1994, 82 million ha of commercial farmland owned by 60,000 white farmers • 13 million black people were crowded into former ‘homelands’ • On private farms, 3 million workers and dependents – poorly paid, lacked basic facilities, no security of tenure • Commercial farming sector heavily subsidised by the state until the mid-1980s • Vibrant AfricanItem Adverse incorporation and agrarian policy in South Africa, Or, How not to connect the rural poor to growth(2009-02-26) du Toit, AndriesItem Agricultural investment, gender and land in Africa: Towards inclusive equitable and socially responsible investment(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014) Hall, Ruth; Osorio, MarthaThe Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations; the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa; the Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC); and the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) of the African Union; the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), co-hosted a multi-stakeholder conference in Cape Town, South Africa, 5–7 March 2014. The conference was attended by representatives of governments, the private sector, civil society, producer organisations, development partners, donors and academics from the following countries: Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Italy, Uganda, Canada, United States and the United Kingdom. The conference was a forum for in-depth discussions and sharing of experiences on land-related agricultural investments. Participants deliberated on which approaches to agricultural investments can benefit African states and their citizens. Presenters shared qualitative and quantitative evidence on investments, along with country-based case studies, and the conference culminated in recommendations by sectoral and multi-sectoral working groups on actions required to promote inclusive, equitable and socially responsible investments in Africa.Item 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, YachikaThe 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.Item The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA and the occupation of the Guinea Savannah(2015) Greenberg, StephenThe US, EU and African agricultural modernisation G8 New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition (NAFSN), USAID and US foreign policy AGRA – Gate Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation – philanthro-capitalism Corporate drivers – Monsanto, Syngenta, Yara and many others Gates – Monsanto shares, proprietary (privately-owned) technologies Rockefeller – CGIAR institutions (2nd food regime) World Bank – Guinea Savannah – “600 million ha ripe for commercial farming”Item An Analysis of Renunciation in Terms of s 2(C)(1) of the Wills Act 7 of 1953 in Light of the Moosa NO and Others v Harnaker and Others Judgment(Electronic Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (EJIMEL), 2019-05-29) Abduroaf, MuneerMuslims have been living in South Africa for over 300 years. These persons are required in terms of their religion to fol-low Islamic law. There has (to date) been no legislation enacted by the South African parliament that gives effect to Islamic law. South African Muslims are able to make use of existing South African law provisions in order to apply certain Islam-ic laws within the South African context. An example of this would be where a testator or testatrix makes use of the South African common law right to freedom of testation in order to ensure that his or her estate is distributed in terms of the Islamic law of succession upon his or her demise (Islamic will). This would ensure that his or her beneficiaries would inherit from his or her estate in terms of the Islamic law of succession. A potential problem could arise in the event where a beneficiary who inherits in terms of an Islamic will, renounces a benefit. Should the Islamic law or South African law consequences of renunciation apply? This paper critically analyses a recent South African High Court judgment where the issue of renunciation of a benefit in terms of an Islamic will was looked at.Item 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, DonnaApartheid 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.Item Beyond populism or paralysis: a real debate on South Africa’s land reform trajectory(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2011) PLAASOn 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.Item Beyond the 'problem' narrative: Towards an agenda for improved policy and practice in land reform(2013) Hall, RuthThe ‘problem’ narrative •Land reform is too slow: it must be speeded up and better ways found of acquiring land at reasonable cost •Land reform beneficiaries are not productive enough: they must be ‘disciplined’ or land must be given over to those with skills and own means to be productive, or to commercial strategic partners to farm insteadItem Biofuels investments in Tanzania: Policy options for sustainable business models(2013-03-14) Sulle, Emmanuel Biofuels: globally advocated as an environmentally friendly alternative source for energy US and Brazil: global producers of biodiesel and ethanol Southern African Nations: the “Middle East” of biofuels -Chief Executive of the UK biofuels suppliers Initial projects started without guidelines, policy, legal and regulatory framework Acquisitions of large tracts: threat to food security & tenure of land Foreign vs home developed policiesItem Class formation across borders: migrant workers in international borderlands(2014) Pérez Niño, Helena• Agricultural boom in tobacco: introduced commercially in 1994 (+699% 2000-2009) • Labour intensive, use of HH labour and migrant wage labour (Seasonal L and sharecroppers, atypical) • 130.000 small scale producers. 1:3 Households in main producing districts. • All production under outgrower-schemes with no nuclear estate (CF involves 12% pop in Mozambique). Substantial productivity gains, use of modern inputs. • Quality sensitive, complex grading. • Geographical concessions, country monopsony, price set by the company. Advances of inputs against harvest. No obligation to clear market. • Geographical and corporate concentration. • Extreme asymmetry/ no bargaining power (but one of the few viable sources of income from agriculture available in the region)Item Commercial farming and agribusiness in South Africa and their changing roles in Africa’s agro-food system(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015) Hall, Ruth; Cousins, BenOur paper is on commercial farming and agribusiness in South Africa and their changing roles in Africa’s agro-food system, as a response to debates and theoretical propositions about internal agrarian change in BRICS countries and their relations with other middle-income countries and the old hubs of capital. South Africa is of course an outlier among the BRICS group of countries, given its far smaller economy, and was included only in 2010, as the only candidate that could be seen as economically and politically dominant in Africa – though by last year, Nigeria had overtaken South Africa as the largest economy in Africa.Item Commercialisation of land and ‘land grabbing’ in Southern Africa: Implications for land rights and rural livelihoods(2015) Hall, RuthThis project is conceived as a response to widespread concerns about the ‘land grab’ phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa, and the dearth of grounded studies to understand how these deals are structured, who facilitates them, how local people respond, and the degree to which protection of land rights in existing policy and legislation is adequate to safeguard the interests of poor land users in the face of pressures towards commercialisation, in which governments and domestic and foreign companies are often actively involved.Item A constricted agricultural system: Cartels, collusion and corporate farming(2014-07) Swanepoel, StefanieA constricted agricultural system: cartels, collusion and corporate farming Nothing happens in a vacuum, let alone an agricultural system. South Africa’s has been shaped by very particular historical forces: colonisation, apartheid and globalisation. This very particular framework has made it an outlier on the African continent. STATS The region was initially colonised as a settler community as opposed to an enclave community meaning that food production was of primary importance for the domestic market. There was a focus on servicing both the domestic and export market – for the passing ships. In short the emphasis was on commercial food production. During the apartheid era (1948-1994), the country was largely isolated from global trade, which influenced policy decisions around agriculture, among other industries. From the 1950s onwards, the state adopted the “green revolution” philosophy of farming and aggressively pursued this approach, including the use of high-yielding hybrid seed varieties that responded well to irrigation, the heavy application of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and crops that could be densely planted and easily harvested by machine. State machinery to support and regulate this model included agricultural market boards, which provided essential farm inputs, as well as information and marketing advice. The result was a dualistic farming system: a well-supported commercial farming sector that meets national food requirements and a relatively underdeveloped, unsupported smallholder and subsistence sector that only contributes 20% towards overall production. Additional effects of this mode of farming include increased soil salinisation and resistance to chemicals among pest populations. Traditional crops were also sidelined in favour of those with commercial potential.Item Current policy processes and legislative reforms(2011) Kleinbooi, Karin•Land reform policy and legislation suffered under negotiated terms in the run-up to SA’s democracy •Land & agricultural policies were initiated and continued to move in disparate directions •Particular weaknesses resulted in policy hand-wringing and at times policy schizophrenia in a policy area that is critical to post apartheid rural transformation •Current policy & legislation reinforce above negative trends i.e tenure security bill, CRDP, Green Paper & Recapitalisation •Now centre-stage in policy speak; beyond land rights –clear acknowledgement that ‘land reform’ has failed –but vague policy directionItem Development of evidence-based policy around small-scale farming(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015) Aliber, Michael; Hall, RuthHow to support small-scale and larger commercial farmers, and to make sure that they are productive and contribute effectively to the rural economy and to national food security.Item 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, MompatiOptions 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.Item Directions for land reform – what might another Green Paper propose? Alternative options and their ideological underpinnings(2012) Cousins, BenInternational and SA debates: 4 broad approaches & loose coalitions • “Modernist-conservative”/modernisation: support the existing structure of agriculture (capital intensive farming in large units) but deracialise LSCF sector to ease political tensions • “Neo-liberal”/efficiency & equity: remove economic distortions, liberalise markets, redistribute to efficient small farmers, acquire land throughmarket-based land reform • “Welfarist”/poverty alleviation: land and farming as a supplement to employment and grants • “Radical populist”/structural transformation: redistribute wealth & power to rural poor, support diverse land-based livelihoods, expropriate land without compensationItem Dynamics of social differentiation after land reform among former labour tenants in Besters, KwaZulu-Natal(2012) Hornby, Donna• Locate land reform in SA in changes in 1970s which ended “state activism in capitalism” and started the “moment of ‘globalization” • Global restructuring of capital has been accompanied by the “fragmentation” of classes of labour and intense struggles for survival and reproduction. • Petty commodity production, combining contradictory class positions of capital and labour, is prevalent and also contributes to this fragmentation • So does LR enable expanded petty commodity production or does it simply diversify the strategies of survival of these fragmented classes of labour?Item Economic informality in South Africa: practice & policy(2015) Neves, DavidSA context: • High poverty & unemployment, yet small SMME sector. • Informal sector: African, low earning, female & retail dominated. • Inhibited by: – Spatial, labour market & ‘human capital’ legacies