Few lives have been improved by the land restitution process and, in many ways, families and communities have been shattered even more, utterly forgotten and abandoned.
This is according to Siona O’Connell, University of Pretoria Professor and author of Impossible Return, after the Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Department on Monday presented the findings of a study on land restitution and financial compensation paid to beneficiaries.
About 2.3 million people, according to the department, have benefited from land restitution and R25 billion was spent on the purchase and transfer of 3.9 million hectares.
“When we evaluate the success and failure of land restitution, it is important for us to understand it was not only about asset loss but psychological impact that went with it,” Minister Thoko Didiza said.
“Without going to each of the policy considerations generated from this study, we must celebrate and welcome the findings of this study as an important milestone not only in South Africa’s long road towards restorative justice but also in the global challenge of effecting reparations to the dispossessed,” Didiza said.
Her department evaluated the socio-economic impact of the restitution programme in partnership with the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit at UCT and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation.
The study interviewed 2 664 households and 3 378 individuals. It was designed to measure the impact of restitution on the beneficiaries' overall well-being.
Didiza said they learnt that the effects of land dispossession not only affected the economic prosperity of the dispossessed but also disintegrated families that had been forcefully removed.
“This yields to fragmentation of families and erosion of their identity, thus causing a breakdown of social cohesion.
It springboards families and individuals into poverty traps,” she said.
“More devastatingly, it compromises the psychological well-being and hope of dispossessed persons as well as their respective descendants.
“Essentially, land dispossession indirectly diminishes the cognitive capacities and decision-making abilities of the dispossessed over the long term,” Didiza added.
She said the study found that in terms of economic well-being, the economic power of the restitution beneficiaries increased by 16% while the settlement of the restitution claims significantly reduced the risk of depression by up to 0.15 standard deviation score in terms of psychological well-being.
The study also showed that the ability to perform cultural activities and spiritually connect with ancestors was one of the key benefits of the restitution programme.
Didiza said land dispossession not only constrained the economic prosperity of black people but also broke families, alienated communities, and entrenched a deep-rooted trauma and impoverishment for generations to come.
A total of 83 067 land claims have been settled between 1995 and 2023, which equated to 94% of the old-order claims that have been successfully settled.
“An additional R22.5 billion was spent on financial compensation for those beneficiaries who elected for financial compensation.”
Didiza said the insights gleaned from the study would help to upscale their efforts in implementing land restitution.
“One of the areas highlighted is the deep-rooted trauma of land dispossession victims and the subsequent errati behaviour of some beneficiaries.
“The study shows that healing from trauma will require a new dialogue and conceived avenues for victims of forced removals to air their grievances.” O’Connell said any meaningful study that shed light on the impact of race-based forced removals and what restorative justice looked like was welcomed.
“I have seen, and continue to see, how few lives have been improved by the restitution process. In many ways, families and communities have been shattered even more, utterly forgotten and abandoned.
“Land and justice remain out of reach for far too many South Africans, and if this project drives home the inadequacies and failures - as well as those nuggets of success then it’s a worthy endeavour.”
District Six Museum Research Associate and heritage and restitution consultant Dr Bonita Bennett said in addition to the redress in terms of land ownership and the economic benefits of restitution, the deeply-layered scars of displacement, the impoverishment caused by it, together with the transgenerational transmission of resultant trauma, needs to be urgently addressed.
“Without a parallel set of processes which acknowledges this, the cohesive and dignity-giving impact of land restitution will remain unrealised and superficial.”
Cape Times