Policies & challenges in addressing the land question in the neoliberal democracy of South Africa (case study of the former Ciskei homeland).
Date
2017
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Abstract
The post 1994 land question has been a contentious issue among different political
parties, civil society structures, rural social movements and governmental institutions
in South Africa. The current disparities in the ownership and distribution of land were
caused by the Land Act which was passed during the colonial times. The Land Act
resulted in the indigenous people-the majority- owning a small portion of the land in
South Africa. After 1994 the government has made efforts to redress these
imbalances. However, literature indicates that this has brought little progress and the
legacy of colonial dispossession still persists. The Eastern Cape Province is no
exception to this. The problem that currently faces the former homeland of Ciskei in
the Eastern Cape is the increasing number of people who are becoming impatient
with the slow pace of land reform in a democratic South Africa .The problem
becomes greater as the South African government post 1994 continues to adhere to
liberal policies in dealing with the challenges of the land question. In light of this, this
study seeks to investigate the policies and challenges in addressing the of land
redistribution in a liberal democracy based on private property. This study follows a
qualitative research methodology of data collection comprised of questioners, and
interviews. Findings of previous research, studies documentary sources, newspaper
reports etc, survey findings of specific questions that relate to this key research
question. To investigate the challenges of land redistribution in the liberal democracy
of South Africa, a Marxist approach was used. Findings showed that the current
land reform in South Africa is not popular with the masses as it employs market
related strategy of redistributing land. Findings further revealed that participants
believed that little has been done by the government and poor policy implementation
is the cause of the low pace in distributing land.
Description
Master of Social Sciences in Political Science. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2017.