Land reform and rural development in South Africa

Following the end of the apartheid system in South Africa came an urgent need to both redress apartheid injustice and promote rural development. Part of the solution was the design and implementation of an extensive Land Reform Program (LRP). The program is designed to allow a market-based redistribution of agricultural land in order to both redress apartheid injustice and decrease rural poverty. This dissertation uses historical experience, an empirical analysis of the current rural population, and a case study of the prevailing agricultural environment to argue that rural development faces many obstacles not addressed by the LRP. Historical experience throughout southern Africa shows that without a great deal of institutional support or accumulated wealth from other sources, access to land does little to promote income generation. The empirical analysis shows that black rural South Africans are extremely poor, have little access to critical infrastructure, and many are unable to use land to which they currently have access. The case study of the natural and institutional environment in South Africa shows the evolution of an increasingly difficult atmosphere for agricultural production.;Given the history of land reforms in southern Africa, the current characteristics of the rural population in South Africa, and the inhospitable natural and institutional environment, the LRP is unlikely to be a major catalyst to rural development in the postapartheid era. Despite this conclusion, the LRP remains critically important for its symbolic value and the continuing process of reconciliation.