Tony’s update on his research has reminded me that I had originally intended my blogs to be about my research.  What an idea.  I’ve completed one land restitution case study, which is the Makuleke claim in Kruger National Park.  Right now I’m finishing up a draft of a similar land restitution case north of Durban.  I’m more excited about this second case because I’m trying to address what restitution really means, what expectations exist, and what it can accomplish.  The ANC has promoted land reform as a poverty alleviation tool, but restitution (the idea of “making things right” by addressing individual instances of dispossion under apartheid) is different from redistribution and land tenure reform.  Former Land Claims Commissioner, Cherryl Walker, has written about these questions and cautioned that land restitution should not be evaluated simply by the amount of land transferred, but by how the community is able to use the land, and hopefully, benefit from it.  I agree with her analysis, and I think the difficult part is that government can’t ensure that communities are “uplifted” by the restitution.  If a community is awarded 10,000 hectares of land in a rural area, semi-arid climate, where are community members supposed to work?  In what town?  Farming is difficult, particularly small scale farming for market.  What about water?  Transporting crops?  After this land restitution case, I’m starting work on land tenure issues in Jo’burg as part of an FMF study.

As some of you may know, I recently joined the Free Market Foundation team on a field research trip to the Makuleke community near Kruger Park.  Below is the story of the Makuleke people.

Vetlee Macebele remembers her father ordering her mother and siblings to gather their belongings: they were moving to Rhodesia, he explained (current day Zimbabwe).

In 1969 the white minority government of South Africa decided to expand Kruger Park. The Makuleke community was herded onto trucks and sent 30 miles southwest outside the Punda Maria Gate at Kruger Park.

Vetlee’s family did not go to Rhodesia. Instead, they joined the community at the resettlement territory. “Each family was given one tent for 7 days,” Vetlee recalls. “After 7 days you had to build your own house.”

Almost 30 years later- following the end of apartheid government and the first democratic election in 1994- the new government returned the Kruger Park land to the Makuleke.

The Makuleke submitted a claim to the Land Claims Commission and in 1998 they were awarded 24,000 hectares within Kruger Park in addition to a discretionary grant. A 9-member Communal Property Association (CPA) was elected to hold the title deed to the land and represent the community in decision making processes. A Joint Management Board (JMB) was also formed with three members from the Makuleke and three employees of Kruger Park.

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