The Geographical Imprint of Land Restitution With Reference to Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

This paper analyses the geographical imprint of land restitution against earlier views that land reform in South Africa will result in the enlargement of former bantustans (homelands), and that it will give black people marginal land. Those views, and their underlying assumptions not only suggest that it would be difficult to dismantle apartheid geography, but also imply that land reform has the potential to reinforce that geography. This begs the question of the manner in which South Africa's land reform programme might contribute to the consolidation of the spatial legacy of apartheid. In this paper Limpopo Province is referred to to conclude that the government's approach to land restitution, together with the pattern and resolution of land claims, largely account for the emerging spatial consolidation of the geography of the former bantustans. It also demonstrates that the resolution of land claims has moved from 'a case-by-case' to 'a policy-oriented' approach between 1994 and 2004. Copyright (c) 2007 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG.

Farm Workers and Farm Dwellers inLimpopo Province,SouthAfrica

“…By March 2011, a total of 3,326 claims had been settled in Limpopo, involving 548,044 hectares being restored to 43,667 households at a cost of R2.8 billion (CRLR ). In view of the scale of land claimed, the process of restitution is clearly still in its early stages, and is likely to remain a central and determining feature for the future of the province and its people (Ramutsindela ). Some claims include farm dwellers and workers, but they have been widely ignored as a distinct interest group in settled claims, and therefore, as we show below, are vulnerable to job loss and displacement due to the changes in land use, management and employment brought about by restitution.…”