Land reform policy is an initiative by government to successfully restore land to those who it has been taken away from. The use of state resources to restore land to the rightful owners is central on the government’s approach to land reform (White Paper, 1997). The South African government’s land reform programme has three main components. Land restitution meaning returning land to those who were dispossessed of it under
the Apartheid, or to compensate for their losses. Land redistribution is to increase black ownership (as from 2001 from 13% land owned by black population to 30% of agricultural land within a period of 15 years by the year 2014, DLA research report no; 14, 2005). The last is the tenure reform that means improvement on the security of tenure of dwellers and rural and peri-urban farmland, as well as communal land (Land Reform South Africa June Report, 2005). This means that government will use communal land for projects aimed at agrarian, instead of protecting and encouraging tenure of security towards the community. The report conducted by the Centre for Development and Enterprise illustrate a clear structure of the challenges that the department of land affairs is faced with. Challenges include the full and final restitution for the legacy of Apartheid, of the damaged caused by the Native Land Act of 1913, the 1936 Native trust and Land Act, The Group Ares Act of 1950, and other racially discriminatory laws (Land Reform in South Africa June Report, 2005).
The White Paper (1997) states out steps government will proceed on tenure reform and how the implementation will take place and the transformation of land claims. “The Land Tenure Reform Programme will deliver security of tenure in diverse ways. For example: by the award of independent land rights and secure lease agreements; through protection against eviction; by membership of a group based system of land rights or through private ownership” (White Paper on South African Land Policy, 1997, Land Reform Programmes, under Land Tenure laws, Section 4.18 and 4.19, page 115). It illustrate that there is indeed a problem that the government should be addressing through the land reform on a gender perspective for security. This could imply emancipation as food security for the community or a group of women who work together to produce vegetables will feel secure. Food security is a key area in land tenure and sustainable development as in the case being widely adopted by African governments. “A clear factor which will determine the success of the poverty alleviation (through accessing land) components of an LRP will be the ability of the programme to target women and youths as beneficiaries”.
In 2004, the Communal Land Right Act (CLRA) Number 11 of 2004 was passed as a bill to promote the equality of gender and land and the procedure government will take to further their transformation process. So far the problem with this Act is that it fails to address the relationship of gender discrimination in the access of communal land fails to secure land rights or protect community members from the illegal sales of land, and expects unremunerated community members to take the task of land administration. It also does not address the individual rights to security of tenure and the accountability of forms of land administration. The important issue that the government needs not to ignore is whether or not the three streams of land policies serves to address gender roles. This is visible transformation of gender policies and the role amongst the poorest women is lagging behind and these rural women are most likely to be in government offices (the assumption is lack of education). It is the policy option adopted that the government seems to restrict poor women from being involved in the programmes.
The other programme that seems to be making progress in addressing the access of land to women is the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) that is designed to represent the redistribution criteria’s to the allocation of land for sustainable growth by a community. LRAD provides an excellent vehicle for readdressing gender imbalances in land access and land ownership by allowing agricultural projects under LARP; women can associate themselves to assist each other. And thus in improving the lot of rural women and the household they may support. The sub-programme will serve as a means of creating opportunities to enable women to develop skills thus giving them security against poverty and providing them with an independent economic status.
By just ensuring those women participate fully in asset redistribution and agrarian reform (LRAD Programme by the DLA). Women rights in that regard to property rights is a sensitive debate under customary law. Customary law pertaining to women’s tenure (security) is based on social relations between men and women or husbands and wives. It shows that it is a structure that is patriarchal in nature from the top down, the men being in charge of assets and redistribution of property within the family household. It is important to provide women with assets whether land or property rights that to make them feel secure in socio-economic terms. Customary law and tenure if looked gender perspective is written by traditional elders, politicians and clans have created insecurity for women. The movements or organizations adapted to enhance women land tenure security focus more on a right-based approach to challenge the customary law and its practices.
The present suggestion specifically on women land tenure security detailed by several authors within them, whom have conducted field research in South Africa. Their core focus is that these point on women land rights (below) to be challenging by any government:
• Review or repeal all personal or family customs, including provisions on inheritance, which discriminate against women.
• Disseminate new laws that promote the rights of women to land so that they are widely known among government officials, NGO, media and traditional leaders.
• Support the training of legal personnel on women’s land rights.
• Train and build capacity of both men and women on women’s land rights.
• Provide legal processes for joint registration of customary and statutory households and rights for spouses.
• Harmonise land, marriage and inheritance laws.
• Develop national and local level indicators that would measure towards equity for women in land right.
• Empower women socially and economically by increasing their awareness of their rights. This may involve literacy campaigns that target rural areas.
Substantial challenges remain with regard to restitution, redistribution, the implementation of CLRA. Security of tenure for people living on commercial farms, state land administration and disposal, land use and spatial planning and the implementation strategy of land and agrarian reform all need further attention. The agricultural impact of the redistribution scheme has sometimes been stunted by either an inappropriate emphasis on collective farming or a lack of beneficiary power in decision-making within the government structures, (Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs Report, 2005). CLRA states that the community will be represented by traditional council. In South Africa, this could create problems as women do not have say within tribal councils, also arising questions related to women’s right on access to land. The Act further does not clarify the protection of women regarding family based nature of land rights according to section 4(3). The interpretation of CLRA on the words such as ‘usage’ and ‘practice’ stresses in the law. This could create problems as practically women struggle to be allocated land through land reforms programmes. This is through the community where they have little say about the usage of the land.
To date, land delivered in South Africa by the restitution, distribution and tenure reform by the end of 2004 amounted to 3.5 million hectares that is only 4.3% of commercial agricultural land (DLA report, 2005). The South African government developed the Grant System (Version 7) promoted by the Department of Land Affairs. It gives financial assistance to (either) an individual of a community to buy land depending on the amount of money they have to contribute towards the land projects. This Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) grant system will encourage non governmental organizations and other associations who are interested land for agricultural purposes for a financial assistance. According to the grant system, there will be a number of women who are going to benefit directly from the financial services instead as individually (Grant and Services of the Land Reform Programme: DLA, Version 7) The system will enable a subsidy of R20 000 thousand to be extended R100 000 thousand by the DLA. It is to encourage beneficiaries (mostly youth and women) that must contribute R5 000 thousand towards their projects for agricultural purposes (LRAD Report, 2005; Grant System DLA, 2008). Yet it is the project system such as LARP that will benefit the community and not precisely the ownership of land. But the government policies such as LRAD is focused on the commercialization of communal farm land not the promotion of ownership for the community. Though it seems to encourage mostly rural women to invest in agricultural produce, the amount of capital needed upfront to be eligible for the grant could be a challenge to some organsations if they have no support or any income and especially those rural women who have the ambition for agrarian.
The White Paper (1997) on the South African land reforms sets out certain objectives. And also shows a right based approach to develop its task and implementation of the land reform policy. The policy fails to acknowledge gender factors in addressing land reforms and to provide projects for women as beneficiaries. Further the reform policy offers a process, involving compromises for land with the farmers for the sake of reconciliation. It is hard to imagine dealing effectively with the massive apartheid created disparities in land access and economic power. There is an emphasis in the document on giving land rights and opportunities to the poor and addressing gender issues in land ownership. But the impact of these intentions will be limited by lack of fundamental reform of land ownership. The Reconstruction Development Programme (RDP) 1994 was set on objectives of combating racially based land dispossessions to providing economic growth and providing secure of tenure for all as stipulated with the charter by the ANC.
As also seemingly addressed by the land reform policies and the emphasis on the White Paper is that the document does not give emphasis on land rights and opportunities to the poor and addressing gender issues in land ownership. The shortcomings of the gender policies expressed by the DLA are that there is not enough resources available to women to encourage them buy and secure lend. They had aligned their approach according to making distinction between “Gender and Development” (GAD) and “Women in Development” (WID) approach. Thus, their proposed policy approach is in line with responsibilities of the GAD and using ‘gender and not women as focus’. This approach raises contradictions on the hands of government as it fails to define accurately their position on gender relations and the execution of land reform policies to benefit of the marginalized group (mostly women). Through this analysis, it appears that the government uses gender indirectly just as a non discrimination tool. Otherwise it struggles to even differentiate; within its land reform policies the status and position of gender on land restitution and tenure reform. The government further introduced the Land and Agrarian Reform Project (LARP), in accordance with their land redistribution policies. It is aimed as a project plan that will be able to assist beneficiaries (mostly women and youth) to utilize and access land on an agricultural foundation. The criterion of LARP is a comprehensive approach towards the land reform policy. It directly contributes to the overall goals of the Agricultural Plan, and the right hand policy to co-operate with the White Paper on South African land policy (LARP document, 2008). These projects proposed by government show no sign of improving ownership of land and to protect tenure security of women. Instead it just looks at women as prime beneficiaries of financial assistance for their use of land for agricultural purposes for poverty eradication only towards a group of women.
This implies that women are not encouraged on the grassroots level to fight for their right to land by government and that the land which will be utilized for these projects is communal land, land this is just under the control of government but not yet transferred or owned. It is imperative for government to adequately address tenure security and protect those women who will be vulnerable to be evicted from their houses when they are widowed or divorced.
