Performance of land reform projects in the North West province of South Africa: Changes over time and possible causes

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence as well as selected studies on the performance and progress of South Africa's land reform programme generally present mixed to rather negative results. Few longitudinal studies exist on the progress of redistributed farms, resulting in an incomplete picture of the performance and progress of land reform projects. In this article, we report on the progress and performance of a group of land reform projects in the North West province of South Africa over five years. As part of a comprehensive audit of land reform projects in the North West province, 43 farms were studied in 2005 to assess their performance, based on their production status. Five years later, in 2010, 37 of these farms were visited again to review their progress. The results indicate that the production status (and thus performance) of land reform projects is not static. Although some projects either improved or maintained their initial production status, the overall trend shows deterioration in...