By Peter Setou

20 March 2026 – Land Reform: As South Africa commemorates the 66th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March – a day that is celebrated as Human Rights Day – it is fitting that we should reflect on the state of land reform process by critically examining the progress that has been made to redress the issue of land dispossession. We need to identify the bottlenecks that are slowing the process of restoring dignity to communities that have been victims of forced removals and implement corrective measures to accelerate the success of the land reform programme.

More than three decades after democracy, land reform remains one of South Africa’s most complex and politically polarising subjects. For leftist political formations, the land reform programme provides convenient electioneering ammunition to rally black communities, while detractors of the programme are quick to cite the reports of widespread failures of the programme as motivation for its scrapping.

Sadly, thousands of land beneficiary communities whose claims still hang in limbo find themselves being used as sacrificial lambs on the altar of political expediency.

Having said that, it is important to project a balanced view when one talks about land reform. While there are a number of challenges associated with land reform and its efficacy, it is important to also reflect on the milestones that the programme has reached since its implementation.

The land reform programme has contributed to a greater degree of political stability as it gives ordinary people hope that their plight is being addressed. Most urban claims were dealt with expeditiously through cash pay outs although criticism has been levelled that little attention was paid on how such monies were spent to bring a meaningful positive change to the livelihoods of land reform beneficiaries.

It is noteworthy that some claims have resulted in significant benefits for the beneficiaries of land reform as exemplified in a series as successful programme that have been piloted by Vumelana Advisory Fund over the last 14 years, which has proven that collaboration with the private sector can make a huge impact where partnerships are promoted.

Since its inception, Vumelana has supported 26 community projects, attracting in excess of R1 billion in private investments and putting in excess of 72 000 hectares into productive use. These interventions have positively impacted on more than 16 000 households. Through these interventions, we have demonstrated that land reform can be changed from the narrative of widespread failure to the one of success, where the land reform programme revitalises rural economies, stimulates entrepreneurship, and improves the living conditions of these communities.

However, policy formulation and good intentions alone do not translate into a successful land reform programme. We need to clear the restrictions and unlock the latent potential of the land reform programme.

The National Development Plan (NDP) identified agriculture as an economic driver that has the potential to create a million new jobs by 2030. The question is, how do we unlock the ability of the agricultural sector and land reform to achieve this audacious goal?

Expanding irrigated agriculture can go a long way towards enhancing job creating in rural areas. There is evidence that the current 1.5 million hectares under irrigation can be expanded by 500 000 hectares through efficient use of existing water resources.

According to Grain SA, approximately 1.3 to 1.5 million hectares of land are irrigated in South Africa, and this represents about 10% of the total cultivated area. Demonstrating the productive output of irrigation, Grain SA says irrigated land produces over 30% of South Africa’s crops and 90% of its fruit and wine exports. Expanding irrigation is an area that needs to be looked into as a matter of urgency. Intensifying irrigation will also give us room to bring underutilised land in communal areas and in land reform projects into commercial production.

In addition to increasing irrigated land, the success of the land reform programme also requires stable and dependable rural electrification and improvements to the existing infrastructure such as roads, which are in a deplorable state.

Equally critical, the importance of providing claimant communities with post settlement support cannot be over-emphasised. There is ample evidence that land transfer on its own will not transform the lives of claimant communities.

Giving the community land without providing post settlement support is tantamount to setting them up for failure. Post-settlement support includes interventions such as access to finance and markets, skills development and transfer through a mentorship programme, clear water usage rights at the point of transfer including other forms of technical support.

In addition to this, beneficiaries must be supported to ensure that there is good governance and sound administration in place. This is key in building public trust and social cohesion within communities. Both communities and prospective investors would like to get an assurance that restored assets are managed responsibly, ethically and in a transparent manner.

The state and key stakeholders must commit to providing other forms of support including training and mentorship. We further need to urgently provide tenure security to communal farmers and investigate better ways of financing land reform, including ensuring that new farmers are not saddled with unsustainable debt.

Demand on public resources continues to exceed available resources and this will not change now. So, all restrictions to affordable finance particularly for people in rural areas must be attended as a matter of urgency.

Without all these important ingredients, it is difficult to see how rural economies and land reform can be strengthened to drive meaningful economic and social change.

Government has enacted a number of legislation and policies to address some of the bottlenecks holding back the advancement of the land reform programme. However, the efficacy of these interventions has been marred by several factors which have been identified by a number of studies and reports such as the Motlanthe Report which was commissioned by Parliament a number of years ago. It is however sad that challenges identified nine years ago through this report have still not been addressed. We must move at once to address these challenges and share positive stories about land reform.

Looking ahead, if we are to achieve sustainable land reform, government should dedicate funding to institutional support. We need not reinvent the wheel, but we should provide funding support to players who are already involved in this work and have an impeccable track record. Project funding remains a key concern. We need to harness the private sector and support partnerships between them and land reform beneficiaries.

Promoting partnerships is the quickest way to get the private sector involved in funding land reform projects. These partnerships must be independently facilitated to ensure objectivity and credibility. Government should fund entities that have been involved in and have a track record in facilitating partnerships.

The success in land reform must be measured on how these restored land parcels have benefitted our people through jobs, skills and economic inclusion. We are, unfortunately, miles away from achieving this.