Municipal commonage in South Africa: A public good going bad?

Use and users of municipal commonage around three small towns in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

“…There has been limited assessment of who uses commonage and for what purposes. It can be used for collecting fuelwood and building materials, running livestock for supplementing income, vegetable production for food security and additional income as well as for recreation, ablution, housing, refuse disposal and even sewage treatment works (Anderson and Pienaar, 2003;Cartwright et al, 2002;Ingle, 2006). The type of land use which is employed on commonage depends on the local conditions.…”

“…Therefore, commonage policy should target agricultural activities such as grazing projects and small arable/ garden initiatives and also cater for poor households who wish to use the commonage for household consumption (DLA 1997(DLA , 2002; for example, fuelwood and building material collection (Anderson and Pienaar, 2003;Cartwright et al, 2002;Ingle, 2006). However, in reality municipalities only focus on commonage management committees (CMC), which are in effect livestock owners' committees (LOA) who consist of emerging livestock farmers (Martens, 2009).…”

“…There have also been a handful of endeavours which have attempted to use commonage for other agricultural purposes such as poultry farming or vegetable patches (Anderson and Pienaar, 2003). Nonetheless, it is important to remember that although municipal commonage appears to be rural agricultural land because it is often used for grazing, it has always been owned and controlled by urban authorities (Ingle, 2006). Town planners have established its use over time for the benefit of urban residents, which therefore makes it an urban resource subject to peri-urban practices (Ingle, 2006).…”

“…In South Africa municipal commonage historically referred to land found adjacent to small towns that was granted by the state or church for the use and benefit of the town's poor residents (Anderson and Pienaar, 2004;Ingle, 2006). This land was granted to municipalities at the time of the formal establishment of towns during the 1800s (Anderson and Pienaar, 2004).…”

“…Benseler (2003) found that in the Northern Cape there are an estimated 367 871 ha of commonage plus another 1.2 million hectares of Namaqualand "Act 9" land (also considered as commonage); totalling an estimated 1.64 million ha (Pienaar and May, 2003), and equating to 4.5% of the total area of the province. When considering the scale of commonage in South Africa one realises the importance of sound planning and effective management for this land (Ingle, 2006).…”