Exploring the benefits and challenges of land restitution at Qhubekani-Mnqobokazi community land.
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Date
2022
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Abstract
In 1994, the democratic government of South Africa introduced the Land Reform
Programme, which aimed to redress the historical imbalances. The Land Reform
Programme is designed to provide equitable redress to persons and communities
involuntarily dispossessed of their rights to land after June 1913 due to racially
discriminatory laws and practices. Of the three pillars of the land reform programme, land
restitution, land tenure reform, and redistribution, the former is seldom a matter of
empirical inquiry. The people who lost their rights were allowed to lodge claims with the
Regional Land Claims Commission office for equitable redress. Mnqobokazi community,
was dispossessed of their rights to land, and out of the three types of land reform awards,
the Mnqobokazi community opted for restoration of the land used as a game reserve owned
by Phinda, and &Beyond. This research explores the benefits and challenges of land
restitution in the Qhubekani-Mnqobokazi community. Mnqobokazi community is a poor
community in a remote rural area under UMkhanyakude District Municipality, KwaZulu-
Natal. This study further investigated the challenges that the Qhubekani-Mnqobokazi
community and land Restitution faced in making land claimed to benefit the people of the
Qhubekani-Mnqobokazi community and made recommendations on how the land claimed
through restitution could be used to address socio-economic challenges in the Qhubekani-
Mnqobokazi community. This researcher used a qualitative research approach, and the
philosophical grounding is a social constructivist paradigm. Data was collected through
semi-structured in-depth interviews. Semi-structured interviews are the most common
technique in qualitative research. Eighteen (n=18) participants participated in the study.
Among these, three of them were from the Office of the Land Claims Commission, six
were Qhubekani-Mnqobokazi Committee members, four were ordinary community
members who are also referred to as beneficiaries of the land restitution, and two were from
the community leadership which is the Municipality and the tribal authority. One
participant was from the management of Phinda Game Reserve. This study analysed data
using themes, and literature was used to support or refute the empirical findings. The
findings show that the community of Mnqobokazi benefited from their land restitution
claim. Access to education improved through schools that were built. Further, the health
and well-being of the community improved through increased access to potable water, and
sanitation. The community also benefited from access to electricity, health care services,
business development, and increased job opportunities. However, there is still room for
improvement regarding skills transfer, the balance of power, community involvement, and
participation in decision-making. The researcher recommends that Phinda Game Reserve
should train community members on conservation and land restitution to bring back postsettlement
support and ensure that they improve their processes to ensure that land claims
do not take long to settle. Further, efforts to empower community members particularly the
youth must be prioritised to enable efficient skills transfer. Most community members in
Mnqobokazi are satisfied with what they have accomplished as a community through land
restitution.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.