South Africa and the Quest for Land Reform: Implications for Integrative Food Security and Nation-Building

Abstract

For much of the twentieth century, South Africa was characterised by an extremely racialised and unequal society, in most regards, including the access to arable and pastoral land and other public resources, which resulted in the native majority being landless and poor. Since the emergence of majority rule in 1994, the issue of land continues to be one of the most contested debates in the country. The democratic government has made efforts to correct the past inequalities by embarking on national reconciliation through land restoration for the historically disadvantaged. Paradoxically, South Africa remains one of the most unequal nations in the world. The skewed land arrangement engenders agricultural unproductivity and food insecurity. Presently, more than 20% of households have inadequate and unstable food supply. Indeed, household food insecurity is one of the key descriptors of chronic poverty in the country. Through a desktop research approach, this chapter deepens the understanding about South African land reform strategy and assesses its implication for integrative food security and nation-building. The chapter also explores how post-apartheid South Africa manages to strike a balance between land redistribution, integrative food security, and national-building. The findings reveal a policy gap in government’s attempt to integrate food security policy with its land reform and conclude that an effective land reform is an essential mechanism for poverty alleviation, food security, and post-apartheid nation-building.