Briefing from ROAPE Volume 32 Number 106
Shifting Terrain of Land Reform, S Africa: National Land Summit

From 27-31 July 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs in South Africa hosted a National Land Summit, under the official slogan ‘a partnership to fast-track land reform: a new trajectory, forward to 2014’. The event witnessed the most significant public debate on land reform in the past five years. At the heart of the debate were the deficiencies of the current market-based approach and the extent to which the state should confront the vested interests of landowners by proactively negotiating for the purchase of land and, where this does not yield results, expropriate property. The gathering, which took place in Johannesburg, was attended by 1,500 delegates from across the country, including representatives of political parties, government departments, churches, white and black farmers, farm workers, land claimants, rural non-governmental organisations (NGOs), banks and academics.