Analysis in brief: Centuries of colonialism dispossessed many Africans of their land. Radical attempts at land reform in the past have failed, neither mitigating inequality nor improving food production. South Africa has allowed the market to function as one mechanism for redistributing land, while also pioneering a pragmatic approach that focuses on poverty eradication through sound land management.
Land reform is a politically sensitive issue. Demagoguery has often hindered the resolution of this issue. Zimbabwe’s confiscation of white-owned land, originally taken during the colonial era, led to deaths, chaos, lawsuits and a collapse in food production, further weakening the country’s economy. Making productive land unproductive by removing expertise and capital proved not to be a solution.
In neighbouring South Africa, government inaction on land reform has frustrated reformists, and angry individuals have resorted to intimidating farmers in a country that, according to the World Bank, has the world’s highest level of economic inequality. In 2023 alone, there were 300 reported attacks on white-owned farms and 50 related murders. These figures have been exaggerated tenfold by online conspiracy theorists and cited as fact by the US President Donald Trump, who controversially offered political asylum to white South Africans exclusively. Clearly, global racial tensions, stoked by extremists of all races, have turned an economically delicate matter into a political tinderbox.
Nonetheless, action is essential, and economic inequality must be addressed. On a continent where agriculture underpins many economies, land remains a key driver of development and wealth creation. South African policymakers are now turning to a pragmatic land management approach, one that prioritises food security and livelihoods over ideology. The newly enacted Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill shifts the focus from land ownership to poverty eradication through employment in a revitalised agricultural sector. By emphasising practical economics over political rhetoric or historical retribution, the Bill seeks to temper the emotionalism that has hampered effective reform.
Statistics show progress in land redistribution
In January 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill and an Expropriation Act, aligning an apartheid-era statute with South Africa’s democratic constitution. Contrary to fears, the Expropriation Act does not authorise land seizures. Property rights remain unaffected and intact. However, the debate is far from over.
On 20 February, Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyhontso informed parliament of a forthcoming piece of legislation, the Equitable Access to Land Bill, which aims to formalise the land redistribution policy. Members of Parliament have criticised the ministry for identifying challenges without proposing concrete solutions. It remains to be seen whether Cabinet will approve the bill once it is finalised. Meanwhile, South Africa has 16 separate laws that deal with agricultural land, of which the 2025 Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill is the most recent.
About 13% of South Africa’s total area (122 million hectares) has been designated as high-potential agricultural land. Not all of this land is under cultivation, so reform efforts have been on that which is cultivated. In its efforts to address historic imbalances, government efforts have either restored land to original owners or redistributed to historically marginalised farmers. This represents about one-quarter of agricultural land in the country, about 19.5 million hectares of South Africa’s 77.5 million hectares of farmland. Another 2.5 million hectares have been purchased by the government and are held in the State Land Holding Account.
Critics accuse the government of failing to redistribute this land efficiently. Interestingly, of the 19.5 million hectares redistributed, 2.4 million hectares (nearly the same expanse as that held by the State Land Holding Account) were acquired without state assistance through private means, such as savings and loans. This non-public method of financing land purchases suggests that the effective way for government to boost private land acquisition for black farmers is to facilitate loans or by providing financing. Once land is legally deeded to a farmer, owners can access capital from banks to purchase equipment, seeds, wages and transportation.
Preserving viable farmland is key to food security
The Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill refocuses the debate from who owns farmland to how it should be used to keep agricultural land intact and providing livelihoods to feed the nation. The conversations around land expropriation will be pointless without safeguards that ensure the expropriated land is not misused or put to another use, such as real estate development. Agricultural land required for national food security might become a new suburb, industrial parks or revert to wildness for private game reserves without government oversight.
The Bill is based on three core pillars:
Like good law, the Bill does not impose but enables, fostering conditions in which farmers can prosper on lands that are protected from misuse and are in harmony with nature.
True reform requires both ownership and market support
South Africa’s agricultural sector is projected to grow by over 3.5% in 2025. Citrus farming, one of the country’s most profitable export industries, is expected to pack 171 million 15-kg boxes this year, up from 164 million in 2024. This growth results not only from land ownership – the Citrus Growers Association of South Africa actively encourages and trains new black farmers in citrus production – but also from government’s investment in transport and cold chain infrastructure, which are essential to get harvests to ports. This investment is perhaps government’s most valuable tool to encourage agricultural productivity and boost the use of agricultural lands when they return to the hands of their historic owners. In this way, agriculture remains South Africa’s fastest-growing industry.
Image courtesy: AusAID South Africa via Wikimedia Commons
The critical points:
- Land redistribution is critical to correcting historical injustices and achieving economic equality, but political mishandling has harmed food production
- Significant amounts of farmland have been redistributed in South Africa since 1994, largely through private purchases
- South Africa’s new agricultural law prioritises land use by creating an enabling environment to preserve agricultural land