CHAPTER THREE: TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICIES IN POST-1994 SOUTH AFRICA
3.6 RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY FRAMEWORK
3.6.7 The Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (2009)
114 on mobilising and galvanising government, communities and social partners to take joint responsibility for the liberation of poor households from the yoke of poverty. The socio- economic profiling of households and communities revealed the need for a more comprehensive approach to tackle rural poverty. The Rural Development Overview document (2011) also notes that, the WOP campaign resulted in a new policy direction. It served as the direct forerunner for the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) which was inaugurated in 2009. In addition, the WOP campaign managed to accelerate the delivery of services to the poor on a large scale, and assisted the government and policy-makers to gain a better appreciation of the reality of poverty in rural areas. It indeed prompted the government to re-commit itself and opt for a more comprehensive approach to rural development andthe eradication of rural poverty.
It is noteworth that the ISRDS (2000) and the WOP campaign are not the only interventions to address the problem of poverty between 2000 and 2009. There are a number of government strategies aimed at advancing rural development across South Africa between year 2000 and 2009 (Olivier, Van Zyl and Williams, 2010:122). Some of the key strategies at the national level include the Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture (SPSAA) of 2001; the Integrated Food Security Strategy for South Africa (IFSS) of 2002; and the Drought Management Plan (DMP) of 2005. Olivier, Van Zyl and Williams (2010:123) add that provincial departments also designed sector-specific policies that were linked to rural development.
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“Contributing to the redistribution of 30% of the country’s agricultural land;
improve food security of the rural poor; creation of business opportunities, de- congesting and rehabilitation of over-crowded former homelands areas; and expanding opportunities for women, youth, people with disabilities and older persons who stay in rural areas” (CRDP, 2009:3).
The CRDP’s vision is evidently broad and ambitious and would require huge investments, various resources and functional institutions to be achieved. Its strong point is that it identifies three priority areas that need to be addressed to achieve sustainable rural development, and these are: agrarian transformation, rural development, and land reform. These three areas are intrinsically linked.19. Each of these three components covers a wide spectrum of issues that must be dealt with comprehensively in order to achieve the vision of building “vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities”. 20 Consequently, failure to address agrarian transformation and land reform impedes rural development. This makes land reform and agrarian transformation integral to the agenda of rural development in South Africa.
The history of land dispossession in South Africa was discussed earlier in this chapter in relation to the various pieces of legislations that were designed to systematically dispossess and disenfranchise Black people. Land is essential for farming purposes, infrastructure development, the provision of dwelling space and other economic activities that can create employment in rural areas. Thus, the democratic government needed to institute a land reform programme to address the landlessness of Black African people and redress inequalities as part of rural development. In this regard, the RDP base document (ANC, 1994) proposed a national land reform programme that would drive rural development. The programme would focus on two key aspects of the land question: land redistribution and land restitution. This would ensure that those who needed residential and productive land, but could not afford it, had access and
19 The three components were premised on the resolutions taken at the 52nd Conference of the National African Congress held at Polokwane in 2007. The three components were identified as the critical pillars for creating vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities.
20 According to the CRDP (2009), agrarian transformation is a rapid change in relation to land use, livestock, copping and community. It includes the establishment of rural business, agro-industries, co-operatives, vibrant local markets in rural areas, the empowerment of rural people and communities, the revitalisation of old, and revamping of new economic, social and information and communication infrastructure, public amenities and facilities in villages and small rural towns. Rural development is understood as the enabling and empowerment of rural people to take control of their destiny, and deal effectively with poverty through the optimal use and management of natural resources. It is also understood as a participatory process through which rural people learn, through their experiences and initiatives, how to adapt their indigenous knowledge to their changing world. Land reform in the context of the CRDP focused on reviewing the Restitution, Redistribution and Tenure Reform Programmes.
116 ownership of land. It would also assist those who had lost land as a result of apartheid laws have their land returned to them.
The land redistribution process would need to address the issue of property rights and secure land tenure in rural communities. This is imperative since the issue of land ownership is one of the obstacles to rural development. De Soto (2000) argues that most of the land in rural areas is “dead capital” because it is not officially registered and cannot be sold or used by rural people as collateral for accessing loans from banks. The lack of land title and secure tenure makes it difficult for rural people to develop land and make it more productive. It also discourages investment on and off the land.
The RDP base document defines and identifies the land for redistribution. The identified land includes vacant government land, land already on sale and land acquired by corrupt processes from the apartheid state (ANC, 1994). Where applicable, the democratic government should expropriate land and pay compensation in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 0f 1996, section 25).
In addition, the democratic government would establish a land claims court through which land would be restored to those from whom it was dispossessed by the discriminatory policies since the 1913 Native Land Act. The RDP base document proposed 30% of agricultural land would be redistributed within the first five years of the land reform programme in order to achieve the objectives of the land reform programme (ANC, 1994). The envisaged land reform programme was supposed to benefit rural women more because they bear the brunt of discrimination and have limited access to land. The proposed land reform programme includes the development of rural infrastructure such as roads, safe rural water and basic healthcare facilities. The intrinsic connection between land reform and rural development in post-apartheid South Africa is clear in all the post-apartheid policy documents on rural development.
The CRDP (2009), in particular presents the land reform as a national priority that needed to be addressed urgently as part of rural development. The CRDP defines land reform as consisting of land restitution, land redistribution and land tenure programmes. The processes of settling land claims would be improved to fast-track land restitution. In addition, the CRDP proposes the work of the Land Claims Commission (LCC) to be rationalised within the DRDLF. The CRDP would develop alternative models that are cheaper and review policies and legislation that apply to both land redistribution and land tenure (DRDLF, 2009).
117 The CRDP defines the core purpose and objective of agrarian transformation as the establishment of:
“… rural business initiatives, agro-industries, co-operatives, cultural initiatives and vibrant local markets in rural settings, the empowerment of rural people and communities (especially women and youth),and the revitalisation of old, and revamping of new economic, social, and information and communication infrastructure, public amenities and facilities in villages and small rural towns”
(CRDP, 2009:3).
The CRDP is a three-pronged strategy that seeks to integrate rural development, land reform and agrarian transformation in order to achieve social cohesion and development in rural areas.
According to the Rural Development and Land Reform Yearbook (2010/11), the CRDP is premised on three phases. Phase one focuses on meeting of basic needs as its driver; phase two focuses on large-scale infrastructure development; and phase three envisages to develop rural industries and credit financial sectors to support small, micro and medium enterprises and markets in rural small towns. Although the CRDP is a comprehensive programme of rural development, it can only be judged as a success story or failure based on how it has been implemented on the ground.
The CRDP is the first policy document that clearly articulates and prioritises the land question as an integral part of rural development in the post-apartheid era. Land is an essential factor in both rural and urban development. It is at the centre stage of development and focus of life.
Therefore, the successful implementation of the CRDP would put to rest the contentious question of land in South Africa and achieve the vision of a better life for all. It would address the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality that are more pronounced in the rural areas. However, although land reform has been identified as a priority issue in rural development, there is strong evidence to suggest that landlessness in urban areas has become a challenge. The United Nations (UN) has projected that a massive 71.3% of South Africa’s population will be living in urban areas by year 2030 as a result of rural-urban migration (Mlambo, 2018:63). The influx of rural people into big cities in search of economic opportunities has increased urban poverty, and created more informal settlements in the peri- urban areas. This suggests that urban areas also need land to cater for the various needs of the growing urban population. Therefore, land reform in South Africa needs to be broadened to include urban areas where land is needed for different purposes than in rural areas.
118 The rural development agenda suddenly became promiment after the ANC’s policy conference which was held in Polokwane in 2007. After the national elections of 2009, the Ministry and Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) were created to focus specifically on rural development and implement land reform programmes. The DRDLR brought focus and commitment to the rural development issues in the post-apartheid era. It incorporated the former Department of Land Affairs and expanded its scope to include a broader vsion of rural development and the interventions needed to bolster rural economies and create employment in rura areas (Mare, 2016:7). The DRDLR was created specifically to handle the rural development agenda in terms of policy development and implementation21. It is envisaged that it would not work in isolation but collaborates with other government departments and independent entities. Its core task is to initiate, facilitate, co-ordinate and act as a catalyst for any rural development intervention (Government of South Africa, 2009). It is the prerogative of the DRDLR to define the policy direction and provide a framework for implementation (20 Years of Democracy, 2014). Furthermore, the CRDP acknowledges public participation as the cornerstone of sustainable rural development. Although it is largely accepted as a good policy document that speaks to the reality of rural poverty, the biggest challenge is how to translate it into reality to achieve vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities. The next chapter examines the implementation of the various rural development policies that are discussed here and also considers the fiscal framework of rural development.