An evaluation of a public-private partnership as an alternative delivery mechanism to enable the effective redistribution of land in KwaZulu-Natal : the case of Inkezo Land Company
Date
2008-03
Authors
Madhanpall, Anwhar
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
The dawn of a democratic South Africa in 1994 was seen as the beginning of a new era in South Africa.
Land Reform, as a matter of moral reconciliation, and within the context of rural development, was high on the agenda to be addressed by the new democratic ANC-led government.
Although South Africa’s history of systematic racial land dispossession is not unique; the extent of the dispossession, and racial nature of the dispossession gave a uniqueness to South Africa’s land history. In 1994 the racially skewed land ownership pattern reflected that 55 000 white commercial farmers owned 87 per cent of the land, yet the African majority of had access to 13 per cent of the marginal land.
The land reform imperative was restricted in approach by the compromise reached during the negotiations resulting in a transitional government for South Africa. In addition, the early 1990’s, was a period of increasing dominance of the neo-liberal ideology with its minimal state and minimal state intervention, and reliance on the free market principles informing interventions and programmes.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa enshrined private property rights protection; and whilst given recognition to the requirement of land reform it enshrined a market-led approach with enabling legislation and policy statements such as a “willing-buyer/willing-seller” requirements for redistribution and market related prices for land acquisition.
The Department of Land Affairs, a national government department, was tasked with the development and implementation of land redistribution. Therefore, despite the neo-liberal principles informing land reform, a state-led approach towards the actual implementation was embarked upon. In 1998 a target was set to be achieved within 5 years; which the Department failed dismally to reach. The target was then extended to be reached by 2014, and the thesis predicts that unless the delivery mechanism currently utilised for land redistribution is changed the target will not be reached by 2014.
The New Public Management paradigm, and various alternative delivery mechanisms have been considered, in addition to assessing the delivery mechanisms and approaches towards land reform in Brazil and the Philippines in an attempt to identify suitable delivery mechanisms for land reform in South Africa to enable it to achieve its target and objectives.
A detailed evaluation of an existing Public-Private Partnership, which exists to implement land redistribution was undertaken in terms of primary data collection and secondary data statistics. The evaluation assessed whether this delivery mechanism will enable targets to be met and land redistribution objectives in relation to rural development be achieved.
The thesis argues that the Public-Private Partnerships alternative delivery mechanism is a suitable vehicle to delivery land redistribution across agriculture commodities, with key recommendations on matters to address within the PPP mechanism.
For land reform to be implemented at the required scale and to achieve its developmental objectives innovation is required within partnership approaches and not a traditional bureaucratic-led approach.
Description
Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008.
Keywords
Public-private sector cooperation, Land redistribution -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal, Land reform -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal, Rural development -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal, Dissertations -- Public management and planning, Theses -- Public management and planning