Land reform, restitution and local development: an assessment of the progress of Dukuduku forest land claims in South Africa’s Kwazulu-Natal province.

Abstract

The problem of slow progress in land claims in the country has become a major drawback to the realization of rural socio-economic development and has further widened the gap between the urban rich and the rural poor. The slow progress in land reform has become a great flaw and a failure to the Land Rights Principle of our Constitution which stipulates that, access to land or other living spaces is a birth right of all South Africans (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 2009:12). Despite this constitutional mandate, after 26 years of democracy, there continues to be unresolved land contestations and land claim lodges that have not been processed. The Land Reform Policy of the Republic of South Africa has proved to be a failure because of persistent challenges regarding land claims. Given the precarious protracted nature of land claims, it impacts negatively on the lives of the rural poor as they are denied access to land which can be used positively to resolve the food security issues in the country. The privatization of land access to serve the capitalist needs of big corporations and Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) has been of much contestations amongst the landless people in the country. Big Corporations occupy tribal land for extracting raw materials with little benefits accruing to the indigenous communities. Traditional leaders who are entrusted with responsibility of managing tribal land in rural areas are also complicit as they lease or sell their land for their own economic prestige instead of the majority of subjects that are under their tutelage. A systematic analysis of land reform performance in a micro setting of the Dukuduku forest community is presented in this study. It begins with a historical overview of land restitution before delving into postapartheid South Africa's interventionist strategies to achieve justice and equity in the country's land sector through restitution. The study emphasizes the theoretical foundations upon which the idea was built, and data is gathered using both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews) research methods. The study draws on relevant literature to have a better understanding of the land debate. Indeed, the ANC-led government has been plagued by the unresolved land issue since 1994. Despite the government's efforts to democratize land access and use as a tool for local development and inclusion, there is enough evidence of policy failures. In this context, the study presents an intriguing discussion about land restitution performances in Dukuduku forest community in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.