Land Reform in South Africa: An Overview

The land problem in South Africa can be seen as the most pressing political question to be resolved during the constitutional reform process. This article presents an overview of the land reform debate in South Africa, with special emphasis on the position and role of the country’s elite. In the first section, a brief overview of the land problem in South Africa is given. In the second, the position of the South African elite on land reform is presented from data collected in an opinion survey in 1992. The survey ascertained that little divergence of opinion exists among the elite on the following issues: making State-owned land available to black farmers, the expropriation of white-owned land, the payment of full compensation in cases of property alienation, the implementation of a land claims court, and political contestation on private property and the redistribution of agricultural land. Notes, ref.