Joint ventures in South Africa's land reform programme ... - ISS

land but wished to avoid the risk of “putting all the eggs in one basket” (i.e. with just one
partner) 4 .
Since the return of the first lands to the Moletele community in 2007, a range of
strategic partnerships have been initiated: by 2010, some had already collapsed, new
partners had entered the process and key elements of the original strategic partnership
model were being radically revised. Initial partnerships were all with former white
landowners – those who had sold their land for restitution – but, latterly, largely
corporate interests in the agri-business sector have become involved. The evolution of
these four main clusters is outlined below, and the evolving model of strategic
partnership, and its implications for wider issues of land reform and development policy
in South Africa, is critically assessed.
4. Strategic Partnerships at Moletele
Between 2007 and 2010, four large agricultural enterprises were created on the 47
restored properties, referred to here (and generally in the locality) as New Dawn, Batau,
Dinaledi and Richmond. The following table shows the main current, or planned, land
uses associated with these enterprises. Together, these activities constitute slightly less
than half of the total land restored to date: the rest comprises approximately 2,000h of
land reserved for direct use by the community (communal grazing on the farms Scotia
and Eden) and approximately 1,600 hectares of unirrigated land on Richmond (albeit
with potential for irrigation if the Blyde irrigation scheme is expanded in the coming
years, as expected), along with a smaller area (150ha) that is leased directly by the
CPA to a number of neighbouring farmers (i.e. outside of the joint ventures).
4 Moletele Bulletin, 2010.
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