Impact of pro-active land acquisition strategy projects (PLAS) on the livelihood of beneficiaries in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District of the North West Province, South Africa

Abstract

The fundamental objective of this study was to determine the impact of PLAS Land Reform Projects on the livelihood (financial, human, physical, natural and social capitals) of beneficiaries. The population of the study included all beneficiaries (97) of PLAS projects within Dr. Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality. Fifty four beneficiaries were randomly selected from all 36 projects and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Data collected was sorted, coded and analysed using version 21 of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Frequency count and percentage were used to summarize the data. The identified major constraints affecting PLAS projects were found to be: lack of resources (77.9%), lack of finance (77.8%), lack of water (77.8%), lack of incentives (66.7%), lack/poor infrastructure (64.8%) and high inputs cost (59.3%). The respondents indicated that lack of finance was caused by both lack of government support and inability to access credit from financial institutions, Jack of assets and land ownership which could be used as security to secure loans. Binary Logit Regression Model was used to determine factors influencing the impact of PLAS projects on the livelihood of beneficiaries. Five explanatory variables found to be statistically significant were: size of projects (Z=1-.905: P<0.05), purchase price of projects (Z=-2.258: P>0.01), sufficient funding (Z=1.657: P<0.01), established market (Z=2.552: P<0.01) and age of farmers' (Z=-2.697: P>0.05). Wilcoxon Sign-rank Sum Test was used to determine the "before" and "after" impact of PLAS Land Redistribution projects on the livelihood (financial, human, physical, natural and social capitals) of beneficiaries. The findings showed that significant difference existed on the livelihood (social, financial, physical, natural and human capital) before and after participating in PLAS projects. The result indicated an inverse relationship in terms of the impact of PLAS projects on the livelihood of beneficiaries implying that discontinuation or no participation in PLAS projects could reduce livelihood capitals or negatively affect beneficiaries' livelihood.