Conference Papers and Reports

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Multinational enterprises and capital flight from host African nations: An xray of the challenges of retaining trade revenues for continental development
(Research Gate, 2021) Olabiyi, Olaniyi
Orientation: Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been documented to significantly influence the socio-economic fortunes of their host nations particularly in Africa and most of the ‘developing world’. Research purpose: Whilst it is not disputed that some of these MNEs bring a measure of ‘economic value’ to their host nations in Africa, reports also abound to the effect that they sometimes serve as conduits for the repatriation of vast sums of money to their home countries or ‘safe havens’ outside of their host nations. From a purely social scientific, human development point of view, this paper, as a preliminary empirical effort, examines how the reported phenomenon of capital flight from selected African countries could potentially negatively affect the lot of the host nations of MNEs. Motivation for the study: There is a need to put into empirical perspective some of the factors plaguing the socio-economic development of Africa. This paper undertakes that task from the perspective of capital flight from selected African host nations of MNEs. Research design, approach, and method: Drawing largely from anecdotal and popularly reported cases from, at least, three geographical regions of the continent. This paper employs targeted systematic reviews and case research of selected reported cases to analyse the phenomenon under consideration. This interpretivist, qualitative approach was adopted with a view to put forward a somewhat empirical evidence of the potential socio-economic effects on human development indicators occasioned by capital flight from the continent. Main finding(s): As is to be expected, the study determined that the phenomenon of capital flight is a reality though often shrouded in largely complex, sometimes opaque channels and practices. It was further found that whilst the human development impacts can often be gleaned, the extent of the economic effect, though enormous in monetary terms, cannot always be precisely determined. Practical implications: One of the ‘practical values of this type of study is that it enables the extrapolations that can be undertaken by monetary or other economists to project the economistic impact of MNEs on their host nations in Africa thus advancing the vigilance that would be necessary to mitigate against the potential negative impact of capital flight on the development of the host nations. Contributions: Loosely straddling the fields of Development Economics and Human Capital Development the paper promotes the interrogation of often difficult phenomena to trigger the debates that are necessary to advance development in Africa from a trans-disciplinary viewpoint.
The political economy of land governance in Africa: The role of universities in decolonising curricula and promoting critical scholarship
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, 2019-10-08) Hall, Ruth; Isaacs, Moenieba
Decolonising the land requires decolonising our universities. In South Africa there is a live conversation about the need to decolonise our universities—an idea that expands beyond transforming our curricula, to drawing on the work of African scholars, to changing the character of our institutions, linking them more closely with communities and with policy audiences. As we think about decolonising our universities, we need to think about how, as African institutions, we pull together to strengthen land governance across the continent. As sites of knowledge production and training, universities are central to advancing and realising the African Union’s agenda on land. The key documents here are the African Union’s Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy (2009) and the Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa (2010) adopted by the Heads of State.
PLAAS Annual Report 2018
(PLAAS, 2019-08) PLAAS
PLAAS had a busy 2018. With the land reform debate catapulted into the public sphere, new teaching initiatives, and various research projects and outputs, our team had quite a year. We had a successful and productive year. Its researchers published a book, authored and co-authored nine peer-reviewed and accredited journal articles, three book chapters, three research reports, nine opinion pieces and blogs, three policy briefs and nine working papers. We remain in high demand as conference speakers: in 2017/18 we carried out 48 conference and workshop presentations, 37 seminars, and hosted 64 events. We also produced a documentary on criminal livelihoods in the fishing industry.
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, Muneer
Muslims 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.
Development of evidence-based policy around small-scale farming
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015) Aliber, Michael; Hall, Ruth
How 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.
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?
Towards support for development of guidelines for voluntary guidelines for small-scale fisheries: Malawi process
(2015) Hara, Mafaniso; Sowman, Merle
• Malawi used as case to support development of the guidelines • One of a number of cases worldwide
The implications of the mobility of South African capital for rural youth in Africa: The case of Zambian sugar
(2015) Hakizimana, Cyriaque
 Developing young people as independent farmers and producers, capable to establish land-based livelihood at their own and on their own terms, seems to be the most desirable option to ensure the rural futures of rural young people in Africa.
Property and accessing rights in public dams
(2017) Hara, Mafaniso; Ngwexana, Bulelwa
South Africa has great potential for development and enhancement of inland fisheries through use of storage dams and lakes This potential remains largely under/unutilised Inland fisheries could promote rural livelihoods & food security WRC & DAFF commissioned a 4 yr “Baseline and scoping study on the development and sustainable utilisation of storage dams for inland fisheries and their contribution to rural livelihoods” Institutions: PLAAS, Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science (DIFS)- Rhodes, Africa Centre for Water Research (ACWR) and South Africa Institute for Biodiversity (SAIB) Current delivery– diagnostic research on existing property & access rights in order to recommend revisions
Recommendations for revisions to inland fishery access rights and property rights regimes
(2011) Hara, Mafaniso
• Deliverable Aims: • Evaluate and analyse existing property rights and access rights currently governing inland fisheries in South Africa • Recommend reforms or changes to the existing property rights regimes and access rights • Findings will form basis for consultations with the key stakeholders for their feedback get buy-in
The social dynamics of rural poverty in the Eastern Cape
(2017) Neves, David
Overview • Structural poverty & its causes • Understanding impoverished livelihoods : i. Social grants ii. Informal economic activity • Social dynamics • ‘Informal social protection’ • The downside of ‘social capital’
Beyond the 'problem' narrative: Towards an agenda for improved policy and practice in land reform
(2013) Hall, Ruth
The ‘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 instead
Livelihoods & social differentiation in ‘post-agrarian’ South Africa
(2017) Neves, David
• Legacy: Settler colonialism & migrant labour • Industrialization & proletarianisation • Dichotomous agrarian landscape • Rural poverty, esp. former homelands • Longstanding deagrarianisation
Social protests and water service delivery in South Africa
(2013-09-13) Ntwana, Bukiwe; Sibanda, Darlington
• To identify the key drivers of water-related social protests, roles of organization and mobilization and dynamics of perceived deprivation.
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)
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
Supporting smallholders into commercial agriculture: The role of private sector partnerships
(2016-07-25) Okunlola, Adetola; Ngubane, Mnqobi; Chikazunga, Davison
• SSCA is a research project started by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) and the South Africa Food Lab (SAFL). • Commenced in April 2012 with a specific focus on private sector support to smallholders. • What is a smallholder? Problematic...itself a research finding. • Three research interns: Adetola Okunlola, Mnqobi Ngubane, Davison Chikazunga to undertake a scan of such initiatives in South Africa, write up results in a report, further investigate selected case studies at a PhD level.
Efficacy of rights based management within an ecosystems approach to fisheries - Small pelagics in South Africa
(2013) Hara, Mafaniso
• South Africa issued long-term fishing rights (2006 to 2020) for most commercial species Long-term rights a form of Rights Based Management (RBM) approach • Has committed itself to introduce an Ecosystems Approach to Fisheries (EAF)
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 policies
A constricted agricultural system: Cartels, collusion and corporate farming
(2014-07) Swanepoel, Stefanie
A 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.

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