Can restitution change lives of farm beneficiaries? Case of Waterberg district municipality, South Africa

Abstract

Despite interventions by South African government to implement land restitution after 1994, land ownership, unsustainable livelihoods, poor agricultural extension services, lack of funding, lack of farm implements and poverty among restituted farm owners remain a major challenge, hence, farmers’ livelihoods have not improved since they occupied the farms. It has been shown that, for example, in countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Brazil, Zimbabwe and South Africa, land restitution has been a failure, therefore, this article wants to provide answers to the issue why ownership of the farms has not changed the livelihoods of the farmers. Stratified random sampling was used to select study participants while qualitative data from key informants was collected through group discussions, photo-voice sessions, non-participatory observation, and interview methods while a questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from farm beneficiaries. Thematic content analysis was used with the qualitative data, while the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for quantitative data to compute descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations.  Almost (98.5%) of the respondents, 73.0% of whom were men and 25.5% women agreed that the livelihoods of farm beneficiaries in Waterberg district are still the same. It is therefore imperative to develop an intervention strategy to ensure enhancement of beneficiaries’ livelihoods.