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The Idasa rural land workshopN Vink a & T I Fenyes ba Policy Analyst, Development Bank of Southern Africa ,b Professor of Economics , Vista University , MamelodiPublished online: 27 Feb 2008.

To cite this article: N Vink & T I Fenyes (1990) The Idasa rural land workshop, Development Southern Africa, 7:2, 269-284, DOI:10.1080/03768359008439517

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Development Southern Africa Vol 7, No 2, May 1990

Review article

The Idasa rural land workshop

N Vink and T I Fenyes1

This Workshop was held at the Houwhoek Inn on the weekend of 9-11 March 1990. Thepurpose of gathering together some 60 participants was to try to clarify the issuesregarding the land question and to focus on future workable options.

It is not possible for any of the participants to assess whether this purpose was fully (oreven partially) achieved. This extensive review is therefore intended to allow others theopportunity of evaluating the proceedings1.

1. RICHARD COWLING. OPTIONS FOR RURAL LAND USE INSOUTHERN AFRICA: AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper discusses the natural resources of Southern Africa, the impact ofagriculture on them and some examples of ecologically responsible land useoptions against the background of a changing rural and agricultural economy.The central message is that future changes must take the ecological realitiesof Southern Africa into account if disaster is to be avoided.

The distinctive characteristics of the Southern African landscape are wellknown. It is very old and very diverse and climatic processes and patterns arecomplex. This means that the soils are highly erodable, that rainfall is erraticand the interior prone to droughts and that the area sustains a complex diver-sity of flora and fauna. Not the least of the implications of this biodiversity isthat it makes agriculture and conservation planning difficult.

Agriculture has impacted on virtually every ecosystem in Southern Africa, tothe extent that there is virtually no room left for horizontal expansion of produc-tion. The result has been an unacceptably high rate of environmental degra-dation in terms of loss of topsoil, salinization of irrigable lands and overstock-ing of the veld. The major environmental tragedy has, however, been the degra-dation of the homelands. This process cannot be arrested as long as thehomelands are maintained as labour repositories. On a more positive note, itis true that South Africa has more than 580 national parks and nature reserves.These preserve more than 90 per centrtif the region's Vertebrates and 74 percent of its plant species.

The author then discusses three examples of how to introduce ecological con-siderations into the debate of future land use options. The first example con-

1. Policy Analyst, Development Bank of Southern Africa and Professor of Economics, VistaUniversity, Mamelodi respectively. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily thoseof DBSA.

2. Copies of the Workshop Papers are available from the editors of this Journal.

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sists of a contrast between the grazing potential of the Karoo and that ofNatal/KwaZulu. The grazing potential of the Karoo varies over time and placewith rainfall, to the extent that last year's productivity is not a good predictorof next year's. It makes little sense from an ecological point of view to fenceoff the land, where ecological conditions favour communal land tenure and no-madic pastoralism. This is in direct contrast with the Natal region, whereproductivity is more stable, and can be optimized by sophisticated rangemanagement techniques.

The other two examples consider the relationship between conservation andtourism, and the potential environmental benefits of a truly Southern Africaneconomic community.

2. CHARLES SIMKINS. BLACK POPULATION, EMPLOYMENTAND INCOMES ON FARMS OUTSIDE THE RESERVESREVISITED

This article is an update of an earlier paper, and traces the accelerating out-migration of the black platteland population. According to these estimates, thenon-homeland rural areas lost some one million people between 1980 and 1985.Given the natural rate of population growth, this means that some 1,6 millionpeople moved off 'white' farms in this period, including 530 000 in Natal,400 000 in the eastern Transvaal, 220 000 in the Orange Free State, 210 000in the northern Transvaal, 110 000 in the eastern Cape and 140 000 in otherareas. The direction of this outmigration is impossible to ascertain, althoughsome sense can be made of regional data. The outmigration from the OrangeFree State and Natal farms respectively is for example mirrored by populationincreases in Botshabelo and the KwaZulu districts adjacent to Durban, whilethe net immigration to Port Elizabeth was not sufficient to prevent a net out-migration from that region as a whole.

The trends in employment and incomes of black farm workers are also ana-lysed. Regular and domestic farm employment peaked at about 800 000 in thedecade between 1955 and 1965, dropped to below 600 000 in the early 1980s,and increased to over 630 000 subsequently. There is little correlation betweenemployment and population numbers. Real farm wages per regular and domes-tic worker increased from R858 per year in 1970 (at 1985 prices) to R1 276in 1981, then declined to Rl 017 in 1987. The total farm wage bill increasedto 1985, and declined thereafter. These wage trends are then compared withother sectors of the economy, where real wages are increasing.

Simkins then plots the farm wage bill index against a production index from1930. The conclusions drawn here, and especially in the period from 1965, seemto indicate that black labour has tended to become a relatively less importantfactor of production. It is, however, necessary to account more fully for changesin real farm prices, rainfall and factor composition before such a conclusioncan safely be drawn. The wage and employment trends given above, for exam-ple, largely mirror the drought of the early 1980s and the halving of the realmaize and wheat price since 1982 and may therefore be temporary.

These data are then incorporated in a regional analysis of masculinity ratios,full-time job equivalents, wage rates and employment. It is shown that the tran-sition to wage employment is least advanced in regions F and J, and that the

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highest wages are earned in region A (where most farm workers are 'coloured')and regions E and F (where most high potential arable land is to be found).

A discussion of the broader political and economic implications then shows that,under the current South African political economy, there are few imperativesfor greater black participation in production for the market. The major impe-tus for greater participation must come from the restructuring of the nationalagricultural economy.

3 . COLIN BUNDY. THE EVOLUTION OF CAPITALISTAGRICULTURE

Bundy's paper sketches the history of South African agriculture in the searchfor factors which help to explain the present and illuminate the future agricul-tural economy of South Africa.

The period up to the Second World War saw a 'slow and messy' transition tocapitalist agriculture, with state power called in to load the dice in favour of(white) capitalist farming. In the period since the war, there have been four in-terrelated processes of change and restructuring. These have included the con-centration of land ownership and of capital, mechanization and technologicalinnovation, and the promotion and subsidization of these trends by the state.The post-war chronology consisted of the expansion of control over labour upto the early 1960s, increased productivity and reduced dependence on labourup to the mid-1970s and the reduction of subsidies up to the present. This wholeprocess leads to four conclusions with concomitant implications for the futureof agriculture.

Firstly, farm labour represents the biggest and worst paid labour force in SouthAfrica, characterized by brutal and suppressory labour relations. The questionis whether it is politically possible to retain this system, and whether it is pos-sible to reform it within the current form of capitalist agriculture. Secondly,capitalist agriculture has relied heavily on the state. The question is whetherthe current mode of production is efficient, and whether it is sustainable withoutsubsidies (given that the subsidies are being withdrawn). Thirdly, non-capitalistforms of production survived for a long time despite the efforts aimed at its eradi-cation. Given that many therefore still want to practise peasant farming, thequestion of the viability of this mode of production becomes important. Fourthly,it is evident that generalizations over 'white' farming are untenable. Futurepolicy must focus on the large producers, and the trade-off between efficiencyand equity becomes even more important.

The paper then proceeds to look at the costs and benefits of four options forthe future, namely retaining the current system, moving to a peasant modeof production, moving to a socialized farming sector arid some combinationsof the above.

4 . ANINKA CLAASENS. POPULATION RELOCATION BY THESTATE

The central thesis in this paper is that any debate on the future land tenurein South African agriculture has to take account of what had happened in thepast. To debate efficiency (white capitalist farming, production for the market,good) versus equity (black peasant farming, communist, bad) is to beg the ques-tion. One should rather look at the history of land ownership and land tenure

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forms in South Africa before a proper sense of future possibilities can be gained.This history is largely one of the dispossession of African land rights, startingwith the original (mostly free) allocation of farms to white owners in most ofthe country. Subsequent phases resulted in the loss of the right to buy landby African tenants. This dispossession of rights to land is important not onlyas historical fact, but as a way of understanding the present. The history ofthe Magopa community serves as an Illustration of this thesis.

As part of the process of forced removals, this community was evicted off landwhich it owned in 1985. The community appealed the removal and won thecase, but to no avail. Before the outcome of the appeal was known, the statefirst tried to introduce legislation removing the right of appeal. When this failed,the farm was expropriated. The community then tried to buy another farm,as they did not want the land offered in compensation (land which was to beincorporated in Bophuthatswana). This other farm was also expropriated be-fore the purchase was finalized. As the original farm is no longer Scheduledland, its repurchase is problematic, to say the least.

In essence, then, black farmers cannot obtain title to land in 'white' areas. Inthe homelands, on the other hand, the land has been nationalized. It is againstthis background of land acquisition, dispossession and forced removals, andthe vestiges of tenancy that still exist, for example in the eastern Transvaal,that the debate on efficiency and equity must be conducted.

5. ESSY LETSOALO. LAND 'REFORMS': STATE INITIATIVESThis paper looks at the failure of state-sponsored development efforts in thehomelands in a historical context. The basic argument is that three processes,rooted in attempts to control blacks, guarantee the failure of developmentprojects. These are the creation of the homelands as labour reserves, controlover the tribal system through the 1927 Native Administration Act, and thefact that the alleviation of poverty has been the responsibility of state authori-ties who were In the first place responsible for impoverishing the homelands.These three processes are then used to explain the failure of betterment plan-ning, and the failure of the government to implement the proposals of the Tom-llnson Commission. The irony of these proposals has of course always beenthe fact that they were based on the calculation that homeland agriculture couldaccommodate no more than 51 per cent of the pre-forced-removals populationof the homelands.

Betterment planning was, however, only one facet of the attempts to developagriculture in the homelands. The second strategy was that of project farm-ing. Two types of projects are distinguished here, namely Trust projects andagency projects, or government and parastatal projects respectively. The authorshows that these are characterized by the land being taken over by the 'stateand private capitalists', ie another form of land robbery. Another particularlydisturbing aspect is the marginallzatlon of women farmers.

The paper concludes with a proposal for an alternative strategy for land reform,based on renovating the traditional African land tenure system. The motiva-tion for this strategy rests on the inherent characteristics of African land te-nure, rather than its supposed characteristics. For example, the point is madethat African land tenure has proven to be surprisingly adaptable to changingcircumstances, but that many of these changes have not been recognized be-cause of the rigidity of laws governing tenure in the homelands.

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6. JOHAN VAN ZYL AND JOHAN VAN ROOYEN.AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN SOUTH AFRICA:AN OVERVIEW

This paper starts with the argument that agriculture in South Africa meritsspecial attention for three interrelated reasons. First is the familiar argumentthat the biological nature of the production process serves as a powerful moti-vation for state intervention. This intervention, however, subverts normal mar-ket processes. About the only firm conclusion that can be drawn from thesemarket distortions is that they lead to unintended consequences. Second,agriculture is important more because of its multiplier effects than its directcontribution to GDP. The 1988 contribution to GDP was for example 5,3 percent, while the total impact of agriculture was 12,8 per cent of GDP. Third,agriculture has been an important sector in the development of the South Afri-can political economy. Some of the more visible effects of this are manifest in •the racial exclusivity of access to resources and markets, the political stand-ing of lobby groups and the general prevalence of 'rent-seeking'.

From this the conclusion is drawn that the production structure of agriculturewill be afected by changes in the political economy, and that this will have farreaching effects on the economy.

The current structure of South African agriculture is then analysed within thisframework. The themes which are pursued include the structural diversity ofthe sector; land use, productivity and farming systems; perspectives on medi-um term prospects for the sector; and agriculture's key role in restructuringof the economy. The basic conclusion drawn from this analysis is that theagricultural production sector needs to be restructured for efficiency, equityand sustainability reasons. Given the high level of forward and backward link-ages with other sectors, such a restructuring is highly desirable. Further, a re-structuring based on affirmative action toward small farmers will serve tomaximize these linkages.

A further feature of this paper which deserves mention is the extensive dataappendices. These data include analyses by farm ownership type which havenot been published before. One small example of the wealth of data providedin 1981: Black farm labourers earned an average cash wage of R155 per monthworking on government farms. Those working on farms owned by public com-panies (ie listed on the Stock Exchange) earned an average monthly cash wageof R98 in the same year, while the average for all farm workers was R47 permonth.

7. ECKART KASSIER AND NICK VINK. AGRICULTURALPOLICY AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN STATE

This paper sets out to explore the relationship between state policy on agricul-ture and the actual performance of the sector. The relationship is illustratedby two methods, namely the results of specific research and an analysis of stateagricultural budgets over time. The first of these includes the effects of factorsexternal to agriculture such as macro-economic policy and the climate; ofagricultural policy towards the commercial farming sector; and of agriculturalpolicy towards farmers in the homelands. A review of research conducted since1985 reveals numerous analyses of these effects, and increases our understand-ing of the sector and its role in the South African political economy.

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— wi Agriculture of Southv nrniie the homelands make up some 13

t. _• cent of farm land and contribute 10,9 per cent of agricultural value addedto GDP, they get more than 35 per cent of the total budgetary allocation. Fur-ther analysis shows, however, that direct transfers (subsidies) make up 3,15per cent of the agricultural budgets in the homelands, and 50 per cent of thebudgets for white farmers. Further, a rank order correlation between the propor-tion of the budget spent on personnel and the physical size of the homelandsshows the high overhead cost of administration for the 14 Departments ofAgriculture.

In the final section of the paper the outline of a public choice analysis of SouthAfrican agriculture is proposed. This theory attempts to explain why farmersin the industrial countries are favoured by governments, even though they con-stitute a voting minority. There is a widely-held belief that rural South Africawill be in disfavour in the new South Africa. If so, South African farmers, bothblack and white, will have failed where their counterparts in Europe, the USAand Japan have succeeded. Further research on these issues is required.

8. DAVID COOPER. AGRICULTURE IN THE BANTUSTANS:TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT POLICIES

This paper addresses what is probably the most pressing question in the de-velopment of agriculture in the homelands. It is widely accepted that sucess-ful development can be measured by the extent of participation by affected com-munities, and that, given the peculiarities of the homelands, this participationworks best through a particular kind of institution. The central question thenis how will the state and its agencies react to the expression of needs emanat-ing from these institutions, ie how successful can development be, given cur-rent political structures.

The author argues that an analysis of past (and current) mistakes goes a longway in addressing this question. Current state policy in the homelands pro-motes machine and chemical intensive farming, is biased toward full-time farm-ers and towards crop farming and supports large-scale capital intensive irriga-tion farming. Even policies aimed at supporting small-scale farming tend toaim too high, as a case study of an NGO-supported project and a critique ofDBSA-financed farmer support projects show.

A number of factors, however, still exist in these areas which make the sup-port of small-scale farming a viable proposition. First, many people in theseareas still have farming skills. Second, the relative success of food plots hasshown the importance of empowering women. Third, the store of existingknowledge in communities must be tapped. This, combined with research fromother parts of Africa, will serve to develop a more sustainable, low-input agricul-ture. Fourth, agricultural resources in the homelands are more suited to pastoralthan crop farming. The combination of commercial grazing rights and individuallivestock ownership poses seemingly intractable problems, but can be over-come by increased community cooperation. Fifth, the pursuit of intensive cropfarming on fragile soils combined with population pressure on the land has ledto increasing environmental degradation. Any future farming systems can bejustified only by a proper analysis of the costs and benefits of environmentalsustainability.

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9. JOHN SHARP. CONTESTED TERRAIN:AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE 'RURAL COLOURED AREAS'

This paper starts with a description of the history and geography of the 23 so-called rural coloured areas in South Africa. The discussion then turns to theviews of the state and of two streams of academic thinking on three questions,namely the definition of the problem, its cause and the solution.

The state has commissioned studies of these areas over many years, and hasbeen talking about an environmental crisis since the 1850s. The problem hasbeen identified as one of environmental degradation, the waste of idle resourcesand the waste of money allocated to the development of these areas. The causeof this crisis is ascribed to the system of communal grazing, ie to a classicalcase of a 'tragedy of the commons'. The solution proposed as early as 1909was to open the reserves to individual tenure in the form of 'economic units'.This recommendation was also made by the Theron Commission in 1976. Allattempts at implementing this recommendation have failed, although notwithout cost to the affected communities.

One strain of academic writing also identifies an environmental crisis, but addsto this unemployment and migrancy as further facets of the crisis. These sym-ptoms are the result of a process of underdevelopment/exploitation. The com-munal tenure system is a hindrance rather than a help in terms of escapingfrom this cycle. The required policies to redress the situation are expensive —a massive transformation, it is argued, is required to provide jobs and to bringpeople back to these areas.

The second approach taken by academic writers is from an environmental per-spective. Here there is some measure of agreement on an environmental cri-sis, although these writers believe the extent is overstated. Also, the cause ofthe degradation is not to be found in the communal grazing regime. The solu-tion is to be found in conserving traditional grazing arrangements rather thanin privatizing the land.

In commenting on these three diverging points of view, the author points outthat those in disagreement with the views of the state still allow the state toset the agenda of the discourse. Further research is required as to the actualnature of communal tenure, as this has been changed by legislation since 1909.

10. GEOFF BUDLENDER AND JOHAN LATSKY. UNRAVELLINGRIGHTS TO LAND AND TO AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY INRURAL RACIAL ZONES

This was the first of two papers which dealt specifically with the legal aspectsof land tenure in South Africa. It is, to say the least, a complicated field of in-vestigation, which shows for example that the repeal of the Land Acts will ac-complish little in terms of giving all farmers fair access to land anywhere inthe country. A complexity of laws needs to be unravelled to accomplish thisobjective.

The authors propose an ingenious way of gaining a better understanding ofwhat needs to be done, by defining what they call 'rural race zones'. This startswith the basic division of the 1961 borders of South Africa into 'scheduled' areasby the Land Act of 1913 and the rest of the country, here called the 'controlledarea' in terms of the Group Areas Act. The first exception to this was the De-velopment Trust and Land Act of 1936, which added 'released' areas to the

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above. There is some degree of overlap here, as some released land is ownedby neither a black nor the South African Development Trust. The second ex-ception to the 1913 Act is the so-called 'development area', or the black racezones in urban areas.

In order to define 'rural race zones' it is still necessary to make a further subdi-vision in terms of the National States Constitution Act of 1971. This Act de-fines who has jurisdiction over different parts of the country, and the date ofself-government of a territory determines the exact nature of control over ac-cess to land. The result of this plethora of laws is basically four different ruralrace zones. These include:

(i) controlled areas under the Group Areas Act, ie areas which have not beendeclared group areas (owned by whites and to a lesser extent 'coloureds')

(ii) development areas outside the jurisdiction of black local authorities(iii) scheduled areas and released areas outside of the self-governing territories

(owned by blacks or the Trust)(iv) scheduled and released areas inside the self-governing and TBVC territo-

ries, but not urban areas. Rural race zones are therefore defined by exclu-sion of 'urban race zones'.

The paper then proceeds to set out ownership and tenure on black rural land,and the legal framework governing access to finance and agricultural markets,and the ways in which the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act of 1970 dis-criminates against a rental market in land.

In the above an attempt has been made to summarize a summary of the distri-bution of rights of access to rural land. It is evidently the result of decades oflegal tinkering and enormously complex to unravel. The result, however, issimple, ie the almost total erosion of access to ownership rights to rural landby blacks in South Africa. Unraveling this mess of laws will take time, and itwould be wise to start doing so now.

1 1 . CATHERINE CROSS. LAND TENURE IN BLACK RURALAREAS: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNDERPINNINGS

The relationship between land tenure and its social and political context in blackrural areas in South Africa is discussed in three phases in this article. The originsand differentiation of black tenure are dealt with first. The argument here isthat the history of tenure is largely a history of attempts to control access toland by blacks. In the larger context the success of these attempts has result-ed in their exclusion from 87 per cent of the rural land. In those areas whereblacks are allowed access to land, the success of efforts to control such accesshas been less clear. This can be seen in the rather obvious gap between legallyand administratively prescribed land tenure in these areas and the actual tenuresystems in operation. Any attempt to come to terms with the role of land tenurein a future rural dispensation has to account for these de facto tenures.

There have been various efforts to 'reform' tenure in the homelands. En-dogenous changes, mostly outside of or against existing laws, have, however,changed the nature of de facto tenure far more than have these prescribedchanges. These changes have mostly been in the direction of more 'individuali-zation' of tenure. People have over time provided themselves with greater rightsover land, principally rights of rental, leasing and even sale. This trend is inkeeping with a tendency in Africa as a whole for indigenous tenures to becomemore individualized. So to understand the relationship between land tenure

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and social and political variables it is necessary to understand not only the defacto tenures but also the ways in which these are changing. The de facto te-nures and the way in which they change are of course not unrelated to de jureattempts to control access to land.

These issues are addressed in the second part of the paper, where the authorlooks at different de jure forms of land ownership in the reserves, how theyare supposed to function, how they actually function and the impact of largersocial, economic and historical forces. The influence of 'betterment planning'is of course important in this latter context.

The tenures addressed here include communal tenure, Trust tenure, quitrent,freehold tenure and leasehold tenure. These are discussed in terms of varia-bles such as power and authority, access to land rights, land transfers and res-trictions, security, autonomy and flexibility.

In the final section of the paper the author looks at some of the criteria whichland tenure systems will have to satisfy in the future. Given the need for secu-rity for meeting aspirations of rural people and for mobility of factors of produc-tion, it is evident that a single, optimal tenure system is not a requirement.

1 2 . DENNIS NORMAN. EXPERIENCE OF LAND REFORM INZIMBABWE

The author starts with the argument that two of the major causes of the libera-tion war in Zimbabwe were the desire for genuine political participation andthe need for redistribution of land. Ten years after independence, the most visi-ble sign of land redistribution was the fact that the commercial farmlands haddeclined from 38,9 per cent of total land to 32,5 per cent. Small-scale commer-cial farmlands (3 per cent) and resettlement lands (7 per cent) were new addi-tions to existing land use categories.

At less than 1 per cent of the land per year, this hardly represents a massiveredistribution. A more important objective, however, was to increase produc-tion from the communal lands while maintaining production from the com-mercial lands. In this respect Zimbabwean farmers on the communal landsachieved a 1 400 per cent increase in the value of farm commodities sold inthe first five years after independence, despite three consecutive years ofdrought. This was achieved through the small farmers area programme, whichwas based on the existence of a basic infrastructure to serve farmers: roads,railways, marketing and finance organizations were already in place. What wasrequired was to extend these to give small farmers access, and to encourageproduction through the provision of education and extension, inputs and ac-cess to the market place. These latter two support elements were provided bythe establishment of depots in the production areas.

At the same time the commercial farming areas, which had of course beenopened to purchase by any willing buyer, continue to make an important con-tribution to the Zimbabwean economy, especially as an earner of foreign ex-change. The resettlement programme was also launched, and aimed to reset-tle 162 000 families within three years. By 1989, however, only 52 000 fami-lies had been resettled, and some of the 3 million hectares purchased for thispurpose remains unallocated.

The reasons for the failure of the resettlement schemes are discussed in the

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paper. The author also discusses the effect of applying a minimum wage toagriculture (increased mechanization) and the relatively small impact of farmworkers' unions. A further interesting point is the effect of farmers' increasedincome on the rural economy of the communal areas. The most visible effecthas been the establishment of many small businesses selling goods and serv-ices in these areas.

13. SEAN ARCHER. THE COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION OFAGRICULTURE: SELECTED ISSUES FOR SOUTH AFRICANDISCUSSION

The discussion in this paper is limited to agricultural producer cooperatives,and distinguishes these from communal farms. The purpose of this eloquent-ly written paper is to try to establish whether there are any theoretical and/orpractical grounds on which the desirability of this enterprise form can be judgedas a mechanism for rural development in South Africa. The basic finding isthat economic theory leaves the analyst sceptical about the efficiency and sta-bility of these cooperatives, but that there is a lack of consensus on whetherreal world evidence confirms this theory.The scepticism coming from economic analysts is based on a number of issuesraised in the new microeconomic theory. First, comparative static analysis sug-gests that such a cooperative will always use less labour than a conventionalcapitalist firm. This is because cooperative members receive a dividend, partof which is the surplus production. The lower marginal cost of employing awage worker enables the capitalist enterprise to employ more labour. Evidencefrom South African agricultural producers' cooperatives tends to confirm thisresult, although it is hard to support a priori judgements on the basis of com-parative static analysis.

Secondly, there are the related issues of group size and incentives, shirking andthe problems of monitoring, the relative success of peer control vs hierarchicalcontrol and managerial diseconomies of scale. A final question is then whetherany of the distinguishing characteristics of agriculture exacerbate these weak-nesses of cooperatives. Features such as the decision intensity in the produc-tion process, the spatial diffusedness of management, the difficulty of relatingwork effort to output because of the length of the production period and thecomplexity of scale effects all tend to argue against this enterprise form.

There are a number of empirical observations which can be used to assess thecorrectness of this body of theory. Few agricultural producers' cooperatives haveevolved spontaneously as a result of the efforts of small producers to cooper-ate, and the centrally planned economies have largely failed to incorporate thesecooperatives into their economic systems. It is, however, also true that mostcooperatives in the real world have some sort of protective or supportive insti-tution, and it is not evident to which success or failure should be ascribed.

In general, both theory and empirical evidence are inconclusive as to the poten-tial of agricultural producers' cooperatives. The general conclusion, however,is one of pessimism.

14. MIKE DE KLERK. RESTRUCTURING THE RURALECONOMY: AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC ASPECTS

Given the current state of efficiency, equity and budgetary allocations to agricul-ture, this paper explores the options for land reform in South Africa, and some

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of their efficiency, equity and budgetary implications. Seven types of land re-form are assessed in terms of these three implications, starting with the mererepeal of the Land Acts and considering increasing state intervention up to full-scale nationalization without compensation.

The repeal of racial barriers to land ownership is likely to have two effects, name-ly the purchase of farms by prospective black farmers, and an increase in shareand wage tenancy. Both will be restricted, however, — the first because of thelarge capital investment required for farming and the second because of thethin and segmented markets for land rental which exist. Historical imbalanceswill only partially be redressed, and there is not much reason to believe thatoutput will be affected significantly. The budgetary implications will also notbe great, although additional cost will have to be incurred to enforce environ-mental laws and land subdivision prohibitions.

The repeal of the Land Acts could, however, also be accompanied by variousforms of affirmative action, including the reallocation of 'released' land, scrap-ping the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act of 1970, additional state expen-diture on eg purchase of land and farmer support programmes, and changingthe bias of agricultural policy away from the favouring of large-scale, full-timewhite owner-operator farmers. The degree to which a combination of the aboveactions is pursued will obviously determine the impact on efficiency, equityand the budget. The author argues, however, that output can be maintained,and equity improved within existing budget constraints.

The author then turns to various levels and mechanisms of state expropria-tion of land, including the option of land industrialization through a land tax.The conclusions drawn from this discussion are necessarily exploratory butrelate mainly to the risk of affecting current production and the expectedly largebudgetary implications.

15. TESSA MARCUS. LAND REFORM IN THE NATIONALDEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION: SOME CENTRALCONSIDERATIONS

This presentation addresses some of the fault lines in rural South Africa. Inthe economic sphere the focus is on the history of land deprivation, to whichthe majority of the population were subjected — a process accompanied by theloss of political and other rights. Those who used to work the land ended upin the homelands or as farm labourers. Further, the modernization of agricul-ture has been at the expense of farm labourers. White farmers were empoweredin this process of modernization, and farm labour disempowered. Lastly, therole and place of women in South African agriculture is also a product of the past.

All this serves to argue for a process of land and agrarian reform. Such a processencompasses more than land tenure reform, and refers to changing the wholeagrarian structure. The repeal of the Land Acts is therefore per definition nota sufficient condition for land reform. Further, given a class-based analysis itis evident that somebody is going to lose in this process of reform.

It is common within this context to argue the relative merits of 'political' ver-sus 'economic' solutions to land reform. Experience shows, however, that eco-nomic solutions not grounded in political reality fail, as do political solutionswhich ignore the realities of incentives and budget constraints. The task of the

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state in this process of land reform is therefore to reconcile political demandswith economic needs.

On the issue of land nationalization, the relevant questions are therefore whatit aims to achieve, what alternatives can also achieve these aims, and whethernationalization should be partial or comprehensive. In addressing these, thefirst task is to break the legal and social monopoly of whites over land owner-ship and access. This will not be achieved through a mere repeal of legislationand the operation of market forces.

On the issue of partial nationalization the author points to the danger of argu-ing for the transfer of land which is 'abandoned' or 'unused'. The fact that thesefarms are not occupied by whites does not mean that they are unoccupied. Fur-ther, the transfer only of marginal land is hardly a solution to the problem. To-tal nationalization also deserves attention. This again does not neccessarilymean that the farming enterprises themselves should be nationalized. Lastly,it is evident that this whole process of land reform must be subjected to demo-cratic control.

16. DENNIS DAVIS AND HUGH CORDER. RESTRUCTURINGTHE RURAL ECONOMY: LEGAL ISSUES

The material covered in this paper largely follows some of the earlier papersto the extent that attention is focussed on laws controlling access to land, tothe detriment of those controlling access to other requirements of the ruraleconomy. This is not surprising, given the political and economic importanceof the land issue.

The paper first sets out to identify some of the legislation which controls ac-cess to land and then discusses some legal implications of freehold, leasehold,mixed and nationalized land ownership regimes.

In terms of freehold the most important issues as far as the homelands are con-cerned are the future of tribal authorities, the reincorporation of the homelandsinto South Africa, common law conceptions of ownership and how these change,and the precarious forms of ownership under customary land tenure.

The strength or weakness of leasehold systems in the homelands will dependon who owns the land. The repeal of existing laws will leave land in thehomelands under the ownership of either tribal authorities or the state. Thisof course raises the question of accountability of bureaucracy, and of the costof maintaining accountability.

The legal difficulties of control of bureaucracy are compounded under a na-tionalization of land. It is also arguable whether such a bureaucratization willbe effective in meeting the democratic aspirations of people.

17. ALAN MABIN. WHAT KIND OF PLANNING CANADDRESS THE LAND QUESTION?

This paper starts with the assumption that the repeal of the Land Acts is a neces-sary but not sufficient step in the restructuring of the rural economy. A fur-ther measure of conscious planning and intervention will also be required. Thelogical question then is what kind of planning and how much of it will be suffi-cient. It is to this question that the paper addresses itself.

There are two reasons why it is important that a sound approach to planning

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be adopted, given that it is more than likely that the process of negotiated re-form will take place over a longer period than for example the decolonizationof African countries. The first reason is that the participants to the negotiationwill have to be well-informed, especially as to how the level and distributionof resources affects and constrains political activity. Secondly, the author ar-gues that it is increasingly evident that the establishment — both the state andbig business — are promoting a model of incrementalist reform, and are them-selves focussing on more material concerns via policy studies. It will not begood enough to propound policies such as nationalization alone, as this is alsoonly a first-step proposal which will need further supportive action.

Within this framework the broad options for planning are the familiar top-downand bottom-up categories. These two approaches compensate for the fact thatplanners have inexact and incomplete knowledge of the rural problem. Theycan compensate by trying to gain a better understanding of the problem, orby involving the affected communities, where such knowledge lies.

The paper then sets out a number of features of the rural landscape of SouthAfrica which make the formulation and analysis of the problem difficult at thenational level. These refer to the extremely complex geography of South Afri-ca, the inherent complexity of property relationships in general and the com-plex history of rights to land in South Africa. This, combined with the difficultyof defining with any exactness the nature of problems posed by the land ques-tion, such as the migration and boundary problems, suggests that planningsolutions are necessarily incomplete.

The difficulties of reconciling the need for planning (as a reconciliation betweentop-down and bottom-up approaches) and the inherent difficulties of planningto address the South African land question are then discussed with referenceto institutional measures for adjudicating land claims. Perhaps more thoughtshould be given to the possibility that a weighing of the costs and benefits ofdifferent mechanisms of land reform could show that the market will redistributemore efficiently and equitably. Those involved in negotiation should at leasthave measured these costs and benefits.

18 . JOHANN HAMMAN. LABOUR RELATIONS ON FARMSThe author focusses on the difficulties inherent in unionizing farm labour inthe Western Cape. Any such attempts must recognize that:(a) Many pre-capitalist forms of labour still exist on these farms. This can be

seen in the fact that cash wages usually form a small part of the total wagepackage.

(b) The terms and conditions of employment are no reflection of a legal agree-ment between freely contracting parties. Farm workers have very fewavenues of redress against discrimination.

Despite these drawbacks, however there are attempts to unionize farm workersin the Western Cape, and the chances of success are increasing. Positive fac-tors include the increasing domination of management based on industrialmodels in labour-intensive sectors such as fruit, wine and poultry; higher levelsof literacy; and increasingly closer contact between farm workers and organizedworkers in towns. Success, however, also depends on the realization that unionscannot organize around the issue of wages and working conditions only, butthat other issues such as housing, education and recreation should also be con-

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sidered. A related question is the challenge from service organizations suchas Advice Offices, SPP, TRAC, CORD and others who are also active in organiz-ing farm workers.

Despite these positive signs the author argues that real change will have to comefrom above, in the form of protection in law. Although the Wlehahn Commis-sion recommended that farm workers be included under the protection of labourlegislation, this was rejected by the government on the advice of the SAAU.The argument of the SAAU was basically that agriculture was different fromother sectors, and that labour relations on farms were in any case not a problem.In response, the author argues that most of the existing voluntary employmentcodes are insufficient, and that a gradualist approach to legal protection couldbe followed. This includes separate farm labour legislation; a gradual exten-tion of the Labour Relations Act, for example to those areas/industries whereworkers have already been unionized; or by extending only parts of labour legis-lation, such as the Wage Act, and not others.

19. JOHANN GRAAFF. PLANNING FOR THE LANDLESS ANDTHOSE FOR WHOM AGRICULTURE IS A LOW PRIORITY

The topics covered in this paper include power, urbanization, education, water,fuel and health, and the informal sector. The point of departure in the analysisis the fallacy of a full-time farmer and neat urban/rural differentiation in post-reform South African rural areas. The realities of the situation show that asa first aim some rural people must be drawn off into alternative spheres. Afurther aim of rural development should be to improve the livelihood of house-holds which follow multiple survival strategies in both urban and rural areas.It is also evident that much rural development needs to be done in urban areas,eg through adequate urban pensions and higher wages.

On the subject of rural power the author provides a three-way differentiation.The first aspect of power is the issue of political clout. The rural landless are,in the author's words, almost by definition the rural powerless. Experience hasshown that even in countries such as Zimbabwe, where the liberation move-ment had a powerful rural constituency, the rural development process hasbeen modified to account for the need to maintain (white) farm productivity.

The second aspect of power relates to the 'poverty of the spirit', as evidencedin stigmatized self-conceptions, lack of confidence and apathy. This makes ruralorganization difficult, and creates a need for external intervention. The thirdaspect of power concerns the participation of government at the local level.Existing structures in South Africa will not change overnight, and most ruralorganizations need to turn to the state at some stage for advice, financing andcoordination with other actors. The question of the relevancy of tribal authori-ties again arises, as well as the way in which local authorities link into the cen-tral administration.

The discussion on other rural issues such as education, health, fuel and wateraddresses the issue of how many resources the state is expected to invest inthe rural areas. This is a function of the political power of the rural people, andthe answer is therefore not immediately evident. Finally, the author discussesthe possibilities of informal and small business activities in creating incomeand job opportunities. Although the effective demand is lower than in urbanareas, there are areas of high population density, and the pitfalls of control bylarge enterprises are smaller.

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The author has collected a variety of issues relating to the rural landlesstogether, and requested the participants at the Workshop to suggest which ofthese should be concentrated on in future research. For what it is worth, thesereviewers suggest connecting three of the issues. More research is required onthe relationship between local administration and informal/small business:whether the latter can generate incomes and jobs, and whether it is seen asa threat by local authorities. A related issue is then of course whether economicempowerment will enhance political clout, or whether such influence is aprecondition for economic empowerment.

2 0 . ROGER SOUTHALL. TOWARDS THE RESTRUCTURINGOF GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION IN SOUTHAFRICA'S RURAL AREAS

In this final paper of the Workshop the author starts by stating what has be-come a commonplace — that government structures in the African rural areasof South Africa are illegitimate, corrupt and inefficient. However, the old cer-tainty that they would be swept away in a new South Africa is no longer allthat secure. The restructuring of local political and administrative structureshas to take into account both the goals of liberation and also the rapidlychanging realities.

In this vein, the author sets out to clarify various confusions and state found-ing principles upon which administrative structures can be built. The confu-sions refer to a dichotomy in the literature between the supposed roles of ur-ban and rural local government structures, with much of the literature on ruralstructures concentrating almost exclusively on the development functions.

The founding principles on which administrative structures should be built in-clude liberty, participation and efficiency. Devolution is a mechanism whichguarantees all three of these: liberty by dispersing political power; participa-tion by extending choice and popular involvement in the democratic process:and efficiency by enabling a greater sensitivity and matching of services to theneeds of the local communities. Local authority structures also need to be legiti-mate, and to have an adequate revenue base.

Local government structures should therefore be informed by a common setof values, whether they are in urban or rural areas. The consequences are, first,that regionally-specific differences might become embodied in local govern-ments and may be controlled by political parties not represented at the centre;second, far more thought will have to be put into the manner in which thehomelands can be incorporated into structures of regional government; third,it can be expected that local government will emerge as an arena of strugglebetween contending forces.

For all that the basic set of values should be applied equally to urban and ruralareas, it is still the case that rural local authorities are faced by a set of almostintractable problems, such as how to deal with existing homeland structures,what to do with the chiefs and the promotion of rural development. The authorargues that the key to these Issues is the notion of empowerment. It is in thisconnection that the land issue can no longer be divorced from discussions onthe political structures and practices it will require.

SUMMARYThe Workshop summary was ably dealt with by Michael Savage, who in the

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process relieved these reviewers of the need to summarize the summaries. On .the issue of process, the issue of missing voices was raised. The choice of par-ticipants to a gathering such as this largely determines what gets said — and,of course, what does not get said. Discussants to the Workshop made some sug-gestions to the Idasa organizers regarding this specific issue.

Another issue of process which raised heated discussion was, unsurprisingly,the format of the Workshop. Any good fan of Milton Friedman is forewarnedabout the prospects of having a free lunch, or for that matter a free weekendWorkshop. The format of the Workshop was frustrating to the extent that therewas little time for discussion, and not all that much time for socializing either.We think that the fact that most of the participants were present for the finalsession (before Sunday lunch) is proof enough that the participants found theproceedings interesting and informative. Any moves to change the format wouldhave to be weighed against the possibility of losing some of this information.

As regards content, both points of consensus and points of conflict were iden-tified. Consensus was gained on: the importance of rural areas in the SouthAfrican political economy; some concrete follow-up actions, including furtherwork on unravelling the legal complexities of control over access to land; theneed to know more of what is happening in the non-homeland rural areas; theneed for better planning methods.

There was some measure of conflicting views on: whether the 'nationalizationlobby' showed sufficient concern for efficiency parameters; concomitantlywhether there was sufficient concern for equity principles; the reasons for havinga rural policy — is the aim food security or the resettlement of land and people,or access to land; the degree and manner of achieving ecological sustalnabili-ty; what is expected from agriculture; whether sufficient legal resources exist-ed for grass roots legal actions, or whether change from above was necessary;the desired methods of Intervention.

In the opinion of these reviewers this was an Informative and useful Workshop.Its multiplier effects can, however, only be maximized by more research andexperience in the field.

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