African Journals Online
Review of Southern African Studies

A Multidisciplinary Journal of Arts, Social and Behavioural Sciences
Volume 3 No. 1 June 1999

Land Tenure and Land Reform in Namibia

S.K. Amoo
Faculty of Law
University of Namibia
Windhoek

Abstract
Access to and tenure of land were among the most important concerns of the Namibian people in their struggle for independence. The land problem in Namibia is a direct result of the land policy of the apartheid colonial system that created imbalances in property relations in the territory. The colonial policy of property relations, including land tenure and access to land, were based on racial lines and were implemented by legislation. The German occupation of the territory was followed by the declaration of the territory as a Protectorate and a Crown Colony and in terms of property rights and property relations, a series of legislation was promulgated by the South African colonial Administration to classify the land into state land, private land, and communal land and to introduce new concepts of land tenure. This classification was based on the native-settler dichotomy and one of the objectives of this classification was to make access to private land and tenure thereof the exclusive right of the white settlers. Ownership of private property was secured by the right of freehold. The communal lands were the creation of legislation, which, inter alia, deprived the indigenous people, who were the occupiers of the communal lands, of their allodial rights to their ancestral land. The individual rights over the communal land were the rights of usufruct, which have limited security of tenure. On the eve of Namibia's independence thereof, most of the lands held under freehold titles were owned by the whites and the majority of the indigenous people with the exception of a few who held PTO's in the urban centres held rights of usufruct over communal lands. The Namibian Independence Constitution does recognise this classification and the various systems of land tenure. However, the Government has recognised the injustices of the colonial laws of land tenure and particularly the problems relating to the ownership and administration of the communal lands. Within the parameters of the Constitution, pieces of legislation have been promulgated and new policies have been formulated aimed at both land distribution and land reform.

Lesotho's Rural Development Policy: Objectives and Problems

F.K. Makoa
Department of Political and Administrative Studies
National University of Lesotho
Roma

Abstract
Lesotho's rural development policy evolved at the beginning of the second decade of the last century. Initially it was an attempt to shore up the Basotho subsistence economy through efforts directed at protecting the fertility of the soil and to protect animals from diseases. After independence rural development, hitherto an ensemble of discrete interventions, became part of the overall national development plan. The number of state-funded agricultural projects directed at developing rural communities increased throughout the country. However, these have had little or no positive impact on the lives of the rural people. While the policy's failures have been blamed correctly on the approach by both the governments concerned and the donors, little is said on the structural issues and forces that may have, in combination or otherwise, contributed to the problem. In fact, where such structural issues are mentioned - for example, poverty - are seen simply as diseases to be removed rather than as impediments to development. This paper attempts to fill this gap, trying to show that the familiar parameters of Lesotho's economy - dependency, dominance of foreign aid, poverty and subsistence production (including its institutional/social basis) are not just policy targets but determinants of policy and its outcomes.

Land Alienation, Ownership Rights and Indigenous Power Relations in Swaziland

K.J.B.Keregero and M.M.Keregero
Faculty of Agriculture
University of Swaziland
Luyengo

Abstract
Land bears enormous social, economic, cultural and political significance in present-day Swaziland. Duality in land tenure exists in the form of the traditional communal system which is practised on Swazi Nation Land (SNL), and the individual modern system that operates on Individual Tenure Farms (ITF).

A historical perspective on the evolution of land tenure systems in the country is given. The land tenure and indigenous empowerment structures are examined in terms of existing land rights and the hierarchy of land controlling and allocating communities and their contribution to the indigenous power relations on SNL. The implications of these structures on the rights of women to land and their empowerment is discussed. The emerging power of indigenous Swazi landowners is highlighted.

Key observations are that: SNL constitutes about 60% of the land in Swaziland; the traditional land tenure system has concentrated land controlling and allocating powers in the hands of a traditional aristocracy that operates at national through homestead levels; power is exercised through the Swazi Nation, chiefdoms, wards and homesteads; access to land is through the right of avail which is a general right held by the community as a whole, but in which every member automatically participates; access to land is influenced by gender, and is in favour of empowering men than women; indigenous Swazis are gradually obtaining access to individual tenure land, with increasing opportunities for women to own land; indigenous landowners have generally maintained their relationships with the traditional power structure; and the problem of squatters and tenants is a reflection of the disempowering consequences of land alienation.

Technology and Swazi Concepts of Land Tenure: Their Cultural and Financial Implications for Advancement in Swazi Agriculture, 1894-1932

B.A.B. Sikhondze
Department of History
University of Swaziland
Kwaluseni

Abstract
Problems of Swazi adaptation of modern technology to their agricultural economic activities transcends the scope of agricultural economics. Swazi culture, which has been heavily loaded with taboos than tolerances, which gave a right to individuals some latitude of choice to do certain things, thwarted progress than promoted it. There have always been strong cultural justifications for declaring some economic and cultural activities as either meant for women or men. But with the introduction of modern technology more cultural adjustments were carried out with a modicum revisions. The cultural problems hinted here were accompanied by those of financial nature. The costs which accompanied the acquisition of modern technology lay beyond the financial means of most rural Swazi cultivators hence the delay in the adaption process. In other words, cultural and financial problems for the acquisition of modern technology, collectively delay its expansion.

A Review of Growth Trends on Harvested Hectarage, Production and Yields of Major Crops Grown in the Ten Districts of Lesotho 1973/74 to 1991/92

A. Belete and G. Fraser
Department of Agricultural Economics
University of Fort Hare
Alice

Abstract
In this study growth rates of harvested area, production and productivity of major crops grown in the ten districts of Lesotho are examined. The study reveals that there has been a decline in production of maize, sorghum, beans and peas in almost all districts. The decline in production originated from decreases in yield and harvested areas of these crops. The study further reveals that production of wheat has shown an upward trend in most of the districts of Lesotho.

The Market for Commercial Farm Land in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa As A Means of Redistribution

G.G. Antrobus
Department of Economics and Economic History
Rhodes University
Grahamstown

and
G.C.G. Fraser
Department of Agricultural Economics
University of Fort Hare
Alice

Abstract
The election promise of the majority party in the new South African government was to redistribute 30% of the agricultural land in the hands of Whites within a period of 5 years. Transfers of land in the Eastern Cape Province are examined as a case study. While 60% of the total number of Eastern Cape farms changed hands over 5 years, these constituted only 19% of the surface area. A large proportion of rural transfers were small (less than 5 hectares) peri-urban properties which cannot all be considered as viable farming units. At average prices about R1 to R2 billion would be required to establish new farmers on land with the necessary livestock, machinery and equipment. Resource poor new entrants would need a major state contribution to make initial entry and subsequent survival feasible. To achieve their goal through market transfers the government would need to either substantially lengthen its time horizon or lower its target.

Land Spiritual Value: The Underlying Cause for Basotho's Objection to Resettlement

L F C Rakotosoane
Department of Theology
National University of Lesotho
Roma

Abstract
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is an undertaking aimed at harnessing the water resources of the Highlands of Lesotho to the mutual benefit of South Africa and Lesotho. One of the major obstacles that the project has had to face is the objection of those whose areas have been affected by the project to resettlement. This article sees the spiritual value which is attached to the land by Africans as the real cause of the objection. It goes further to explain some objection in terms of an African holistic cosmology which seems to have been overlooked by the project's authorities in their Compensation Plan.

The State and the Land Question in Botswana

M G Molomo
Department of Political and Administrative Studies
University of Botswana
Gaborone

Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between the state and the land question in Botswana. It asserts that land is an important factor of production that determines the life chances of the rural population. This paper discusses the broad forms of land tenure and how they fit in the political and economic structure of the country. Invariably it emerges that the state has been used as an instrument of capital accumulation for the purposes of acquiring land, especially for cattle production. The drive towards capital accumulation has led to the individualisation of land tenure, which undermines communal land tenure as well as the infringement of land rights of Basarwa. This paper concludes that the privatisation of the land, and more broadly the enclosure process, has led to the alienation of poor peasants and Basarwa from land. As a result, rural society is increasingly polarised into two classes, those who own land and those who are alienated from it.