Radical Land Reform is Key to Sustainable Rural Development in South Africa

August 2002
Thembela Kepe and Ben Cousins (PLAAS Policy Brief 3)

Argues that sustainable development in 21st century South Africa will never be achieved without a radical assault on the structural underpinnings of poverty and inequality inherited from 3 centuries of oppression and exploitation. A large-scale redistribution of land and resources, accompanied by the securing of tenure rights in practice as well as in law, is required for long-term sustainability. Asks how is the government’s land reform performing, and how sustainable are land-based livelihoods?