South Africa needs an inclusive approach to drive the success of land reform

South Africa needs to shift its perspective on land reform and move away from viewing it merely as a process of land distribution, but instead recognise that it is a crucial pathway to foster inclusive social and economic growth. As we move into the next decade, the land reform discourse should evolve to address the broader social and economic challenges that we continue to grapple with as a nation.

To achieve this goal, there is a need for greater emphasis on facilitating access to finance, improved infrastructure, and markets for emerging farmers. And for land reform beneficiaries, an emphasis on enabling them to put restored land to productive use. There is a need to scale efforts to drive post-settlement support in agriculture and eco-tourism projects in order to ensure the productive use of restored land.

There is no doubt that we can harness the potential of land reform to drive positive change across our communities.

Our involvement and work in facilitating partnerships between land reform beneficiaries and private investors have demonstrated that the success of land reform hinges upon our collective commitment to providing meaningful support to these beneficiaries. By leveraging restored land for sustainable economic growth we can create opportunities for employment, drive economic growth, and improve the livelihoods of people in those rural and remote communities where land has been restored.

Since 2012, Vumelana has facilitated 26 partnerships between land reform beneficiary communities and private investors. In excess of 70 000 hectares of land have been put to productive use as a result of these deals, benefiting close to 20 000 beneficiary households. We have been able to mobilise nearly R1 bn in funding to support beneficiaries of the land reform programme.

Our experience over the past decade has taught us that there is room to drive successful and mutually beneficial partnerships for land reform between land reform beneficiary communities and private investors; however, this needs to be facilitated by independent organisations that understand the complexities of land reform and have the requisite experience to navigate these complexities.

By Peter Setou, Chief Executive of the Vumelana Advisory Fund .