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Politics and legalities of land reform unpacked in UFS/IRR webinar

11 February 2021 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Pixabay

The Department of Political Studies and Governance at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted a webinar with the South African Institute for Race Relations (IRR) on The Land Question in South Africa: Challenges and Prospects. This comes after South Africans had until 31 January 2021 to provide commentary on the Land Exploration Bill.

Experts from both the UFS and IRR delivered presentations on many of the challenges facing the land expropriation process and suggested it may not be as straightforward as the political fraternity would like it to be. The discussion was moderated by Prof Hussein Solomon, academic head of the Department of Political Studies and Governance at UFS. The webinar took place on Tuesday 3 February 2021.

Government failures hinder effective land reform implementation

The implementation of the Land Reform Bill is not straightforward, with various legal, political and social aspects to consider. Dr Ina Gouws, lecturer in Political Studies, mentioned in her presentation that the expression ‘smudge’ refers to “the management of policy implementation in South Africa which has been marred by an administration causing a massively smeared landscape, where little progress has been made towards growth (economic) or development. This ‘smudge’ also exists where land reform is to be planned, developed and implemented’’.

Dr Gouws added that land reform is necessary and “when implemented effectively has the potential to add to growth and development”.

How will land reform impact property rights?

One of the burning questions around the Land Reform Bill is whether property owners would forfeit their rights when the bill has been passed through parliament.

Dr Anthea Jeffrey, Head of Special Research at the IRR said it was discussed what the Bill would hold in store for property owners if there were no compensation if their land were expropriated. Dr Jeffrey stated that “the nil (zero) compensation under clause 12/3 of the Bill is a situation where the state plans to take ownership, in other words, it is envisaging a direct expropriation. But this clause refers to land only and raises questions about improvements that have been made to the land, such as buildings, shopping centres and mine shafts”.

Dire economic state of traditional communal land

Prof Phillippe Burger, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the UFS, said the webinar was a platform to engage over land reform as “it doesn’t get the attention that it should”. Prof Burger’s discussion was on The Forgotten: South Africa’s Former Bantustans today. He said land reform in South Africa focused on two issues the skew racial profile of commercial farm ownership, and the tenure rights of communal land under traditional leadership. “Communal land is actually the land of the former homelands or Bantustans of apartheid South Africa,” said Prof Burger

He said the dilapidated economic conditions of these former homelands could be measured by the number of pit toilets in schools in these areas. “The map of pit toilets basically traces out the map of the old homelands,” he said.

Watch: Recording of webinar here:

News Archive

Ford foundation funds higher education redesign

2005-06-23

The Ford Foundation has pledged a grant of almost R280 000 for redesigning higher education delivery at three campuses in the Free State.

According to Prof Magda Fourie, Vice-Rector: Academic Planning at the University of the Free State (UFS), the three campuses that will be affected by the strategic reconfiguration of higher education delivery are the Qwaqwa campus at Phuthaditjhaba and the Vista campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein and the Welkom campus of the Central University of Technology (CUT).

Prof Fourie says the three campuses were all affected by the restructuring of higher education, in line with the National Plan for Higher Education.

The Qwaqwa campus of the UFS that was part of the former University of the North was incorporated into the UFS in January 2003. Likewise the Bloemfontein campus of the former Vista University was incorporated into the UFS in January 2004.

The Welkom campus of the CUT was also part of the former Vista University and was incorporated into the CUT in January 2004.

“These incorporations pose a challenge in that we have to think creatively about the best ways of using these three campuses to service the higher education, training, skills development and human resource needs of the Free State,” Prof Fourie said.

“The grant from the Ford Foundation will primarily be used to draw up strategic funding proposals for the three campuses. The Qwaqwa campus of the UFS is a priority to us given the poverty and unemployment in a largely rural area of the Free State,” said Prof Fourie.

“A detailed consultation process will be undertaken in the Qwaqwa campus sub-region which will hopefully result in a comprehensive and a coherent suite of higher education activities being established on this campus,” said Prof Fourie.

“It is envisaged that the Qwaqwa campus will become a centre of excellence in the area of rural development. This vision is based on a focused integration of the core functions of a university – teaching, research, and community service – around the issue of rural development,” said Prof Fourie.

Prof Fourie said that various educational offerings including among others short courses, bridging and foundation programmes, and degrees could be offered, with a particular focus on providing courses of relevance to students from the local rural community and students from elsewhere with an interest in focusing on rural development studies.

She said the redesign of the three affected campuses is being managed as a project of the Free State Higher Education Consortium (FSHEC) consisting of all the higher education institutions operating in the Free State.

“The aim of the project is to establish how the Qwaqwa and Vista campuses of the UFS and the Welkom campus of the CUT can be used effectively to meet regional education and training needs, to serve the strategic priorities of the two higher education institutions and contribute to the sustainable development and poverty alleviation of the region,” she said.

The planning for the Vista campus of the UFS is still in an early stage. “We are looking at the possibility of developing this campus into a hub of education and training opportunities for Bloemfontein and Free State region. Further plans will be communicated later in the year,” said Prof Fourie.

Media release

Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel: (051) 401-2584
   Cell: 083 645 2454
   E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

23 June 2005

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