Channing, Janet (2000-04)
Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2000.
Some digitised pages may appear cut off due to the condition of the original hard copy.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Muden is a poor, rural hamlet in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The sub district of Muden forms
part of the Presidential Lead Pilot Land Reform Redistribution Project within KwaZulu Natal.
This study analyses the negative impact of the current land reform programme on this rural
environment. The research indicates a situation of severe poverty, high dependency, a lack of
social infrastructure and a need for strong participatory government at local level. It also shows
how existing land reform policies and current development practises are inappropriate within their
current context. Proposals are formulated about a possible strategy that can be used to move
beyond these problems.
This study follows a systematic approach in which the reader is first shown what the facts about
land reform within Muden, KwaZulu Natal are, and secondly what challenges are induced by these
facts. In each chapter the perspectives are altered to add depth and to illustrate the complexity of
the situation. The focus also falls on moments or aspects of crisis and how the different
stakeholders have actually responded to these. From a normative perspective, guidelines are
identified in a reasoned manner from the discussion in each chapter that help identify what could
be done in order to overcome the crisis of development and land reform in Muden.
The first chapter introduces the reader to Muden, KwaZulu Natal, through a brief history of the
district from a land reform perspective. The reader is given an understanding of the current
situation prevailing in the Muden Valley through an explanation of the origins of the conflict over
land and other natural resources. In the second chapter the social fabric of Muden is described,
considering the perceived ethical dilemma between development and environmental management
within the context of land reform. A need for an integrated management strategy emerges. In the
third chapter the social lens is exchanged for an environmental perspective, discussing the concept
of sustainability in terms of the natural environment. Through a discussion about the quality of
life of the people of Muden, both pre and post land reform, Chapter 4 brings together the social
and biophysical arguments and makes a case for sustainable development. Against the
background of this overview of the current situation of Muden, Chapter 5 is used for a rigorous
scrutiny of the current approach to land reform/rural development. In this chapter the critical
points of intervention are identified. These are points where decisions have impacted negatively upon the land reform project in the respective stages of project planning and project
implementation and how these have contributed to the current crisis within Muden.
The final chapter formulates a (hopefully) persuasive proposal towards the establishment of
District Development Forums as an alternative approach to the current/conventional approach to
land reform /rural development in Muden, KwaZulu Natal. I propose that these forums may form
a practical institutional framework which have the potential to move us beyond the present
quandaries o f the current land reform/rural development experience.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Muden is ‘n arm landelike dorpie in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Die Muden distrik vorm deel van die
Presideasiele Loodsprojek vir die Herverdeling van Grond in KwaZulu Natal. Hierdie studie
ondersoek en analiseer die negatiewe impak van die bestaande grondhervormingsprogramme op die
landelike omgewing waarin dit geskied. Die navorsing dui op omvangryke armoede, ‘n hoe vlak van
afhanklikheid, ‘n gebrek aan sosiale infrastrukture en ‘n behoefte vir sterk deelnemende bestuur op
plaaslike vlak. Verder toon dit aan dat bestaande grondhervormingsbeleid en ontwikkelingspraktyke
onvoldoende is binne die bestaande landelike konteks. Voorstelle word binne hierdie studie gedoen
vir ‘n moontlike strategic om die genoemde probleme te oorkom.
Die studie volg ‘n sistematiese aanpak waarin die leser bewus gemaak word van die bestaande feite
rondom grondhervorming in Muden. Voorts word die uitdagings wat uit hierdie situasie spruit aan
die leser gestel. In elke hoofstuk word die perspektief gewysig om insig in die situasie te verdiep en
die kompleksiteit daarvan aan te toon. Momente van krisissituasies word beklemtoon en die wyse
waarop rolspelers daarop reageer word bespreek. Vanuit ‘n nomatiewe hoek word in elke hoofstuk
riglyne op ‘n beredeneerde wyse geidentifiseer om oplossings te vind wat die bestaande krississe in
grondhervorming in Muden kan oorkom.
Hoofstuk een stel die leser voor aan Muden en die geskiedenis van grondhervorming in die distrik.
Begrip vir die huidige situasie in Muden word geskep deur ‘n bespreking van die oorsake van konflik
oor grond en ander natuurlike hulpbronne. Hoofstuk twee beskryf die sosiale samestelling binne die
Muden distrik en bring dit in verband met die oenskynlike etiese konflik tussen ontwikkeling en
bewaring binne die konteks van grondhervorming. Hieruit spruit ‘n behoefte voort vir ‘n
geintegreerde en omvattende bestuurstrategie. In Hoofstuk drie word die sosiale invalshoek vervang
met ‘n omgewingsfokus en word die konsep van selfonderhoubaarheid van die natuurlike omgewing
ter sprake gebring. Terselfdertyd ondersoek dit lewenskwaliteit van die mense in Muden voor en
na die grondhervorming. Hoofstuk vier kombineer sosiale en biofisiese standpunte en ontwikkel ‘n
pleidooi vir selfonderhoubare ontwikkeling. Teen die hierdie agtergrond word grondhervorming en ontwikkeling krities beoordeel in Hoofstuk vyf. Kritieke sake vir intervensie word so geidentifiseer.
Hierdie sake word beskou as die produk van besluite wat negatief ingewerk het op die verskillende
fases van projekbeplanning en implementering. As sodanig het die gemelde besluite dus bygedra tot
die huidige grondhervormingskrises in Muden.
Die laaste hoofstuk formuleer en argumenteer ten gunste van die vestiging van Distrik
Ontwikkelingsforums as ‘n alternatiewe benadering tot die konvensionele en bestaande aanpak van
grondhervorming en landelike ontwikkeling in Muden. As sodaning kan hierdie forums dien as
praktiese institusionele raamwerke met die inherente potensiaal om bestaande probleme in hierdie
verband te oorkom.
Please refer to this item in SUNScholar by using the following persistent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51733