Land reform and the quest for labour tenants: reassessing tenure, power and agrarian citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This study examines the implementation of South Africa’s labour tenant programme to assess whether it has restored land rights and secured the livelihoods of labour tenant households in the post-apartheid period. Drawing on interviews with labour tenants, civil society organisations, and government officials, the study evaluates administrative performance, lived experiences of claimants, and the broader structural context shaping land reform outcomes. The findings show that, despite the programme’s transformative intent, progress remains slow and uneven, with thousands of claims still unresolved. Labour tenants continue to face entrenched power imbalances on commercial farms, limited access to post- settlement support, and prolonged administrative delays – conditions that reinforce longstanding critiques of weak state capacity and persistent rural inequality. The research contributes updated empirical evidence on an underexamined component of land reform highlighting the urgent need for institutional strengthening, clearer accountability mechanisms and sustained support for beneficiaries to realise the constitutional promise of land justice.