The National Democratic Revolution and the transformation of land ownership in South Africa : a critical analysis and alternative framework

Abstract

Transformation of land ownership in the form of land reform, land restitution and land tenure has dominated the agricultural policy and legislative landscape since 1994. Transformation of land ownership is a historical and political imperative due to the centuries of conflict over land and legislated dispossession of land from the black majority by previous colonial and Apartheid governments in the last century. Attempts to transform land ownership in South Africa between 1994 and 2014 were characterised by various programmes, policies and legislation, the majority of which failed. Since 2014, more radical policy and legislative proposals aimed at transformation of land ownership have highlighted the underlying National Democratic Revolution (NDR) as central point of departure. The ideological point of departure regarding policy and legislative proposals aimed at transformation of land ownership requires an in-depth analysis. The lack of an analytical framework for this analysis required the development of such an academic framework for this study. This analytical framework was used to carry out the necessary critical analysis of transformation of land ownership as required by the theme. Since this study was carried out within the discipline of Political Science, chapters are devoted to the meta-theoretical and theoretical aspects that justify this study within the discipline of Political Science. The ideological nature of the NDR also required a conceptualisation and discussion on political ideology with all its categories. The result is a comprehensive analysis of the most relevant current policy and legislative proposals to transformation of land ownership in South Africa within the framework of the NDR as the ideological point of departure