Restitution of protected lands can enhance the livelihoods of communities.

As we celebrate Heritage Month, I thought it would be an opportune time to reflect on how successful land reform can contribute towards boosting tourism in South Africa.

The Khomani San Communal Property Association (CPA) is one of the land reform beneficiary communities that Vumelana has supported in facilitating a partnership with a private investor to ensure the productive use of the community’s land. The Khomani San community is located in the Kgalakgadi Transfrontier Park and surrounds and owns 25,000 ha of land within the park and six farms south of the park. The land measures in total about 370 000 ha, and the park is pegged as a World Heritage Site (WHS).

The six farms allocated and managed by the CPA committee include Miershoopan, Uitkoms, Andriesvale, Scotty’s Fort, Witdraai, and Erin. The CPA has just over 1?090 beneficiaries of San descent.

Today the community has been able to derive several benefits from the restitution process, including access to their land and job creation through tourism and hunting operations. On the tourism front, successful ventures include the Erin Game Farm operation. The main source of income is derived mainly from eco-tourism projects taking place on the property.

The community has been able to leverage other tourism opportunities on their land, including the creation of jobs through tracking/spoorsny, guided walks and drives, hunting guides, skinners and meat processors, storytelling, craft making and sales, as well as accommodation in the Erin Tented Camp.

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Three female entrepreneurs operate successful tourism businesses: Vinkie’s Kalahari Tours, Koera’s Farm Kitchen, and Boesmanrust. A number of other programmes have been implemented in collaboration with various stakeholders, donors and government departments.

Over the past 11 years, in our work with beneficiaries of the land reform programme, we have observed that communities can thrive where they have access to their land and the requisite support from stakeholders, including government and the private sector. We know land alone is not enough, skills transfer, access to finance, access to markets, and good governance are all important elements to enable the success of land reform.

?To achieve this, partnerships with the private sector are crucial, since they have access to capital, skills, and access to markets. These partnerships, however, do not happen naturally. Independent facilitation is required in order to ensure that the interests of the communities are safeguarded, and the partnerships are sustainable. Vumelana has supported communities in facilitating these partnerships, and we believe that if more communities can be supported to mobilise private investments and secure partnerships, more restored land could be productive and thus contribute to employment opportunities for the beneficiaries. We are actively engaging with private sector players and other stakeholders who are willing to support our work to ensure sustainable land reform.

?Where heritage land is involved in land restitution claims, it is crucial that communities are adequately supported on finalisation of their land claims, provided with post-settlement support, as well as the certainty that existing jobs are saved, and new ones are created – so that they too can benefit from the tourism proceeds from their land.

?To support our work, visit www.vumelana.org.za. For more information about how you can get involved email [email protected]