South Africa’s land reform: what does the future hold? by Ruth Hall on 31 March 2015

What does the future hold for South Africa’s confused, conflictual and stagnant land reform process? Can it be turned around and make a real contribution to changing our economy and society? Or will it be hijacked by narrow self-interest, or stymied by state incapacity?

These are just a few of many different possible storylines about potential ‘futures’ for land reform that were discussed by about 80 participants in a meeting to kickstart a scenario planning process for South Africa’s land reform, at the Gordon Institute for Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg yesterday.

Vumelana Advisory Fund is convening a scenario planning process to generate a set of possible future storylines for how land reform could unfold over the coming medium- to long-term. Vumelana, a creation of the Business Trust, is a non-profit organisation that brokers commercial partnerships between rural communities and investors, in land reform. It’s an achievement that they managed to get a relatively broad spectrum of people together, many of whom object to the business-driven paradigm they promote.

To read Ruth Hall’s full post go to http://www.plaas.org.za/blog/south-africa%E2%80%99s-land-reform-what-does-future-hold