Land to the Tiller: A Comparison of Land Reform in South Africa and South Korea

This paper seeks to inform South Africa’s current land reform effort, which remains a deeply divisive issue in post-apartheid South Africa. Demonstrably, state-led land reform in Korea had significant economic benefits, namely, higher food supply, enhanced agricultural productivity, improved human capital, increased household income, and the emergence of a capitalist entrepreneurial class. Zimbabwe-style state-led land reform, on the other hand, would be destructive. Elements of state role in Korean land reform can be identified for use in South Africa, first through the adoption of a smallholder system in communal areas for profitable farming. Nationwide tenure reform projects should be launched in subsistence-farming areas to measure potential success. This would involve rural land tenure reform that sees ownership move from communal/government to individual level; where property rights are guaranteed to individuals. Ultimately, such reforms could support South Africa’s goal of achieving 30% land reform in the agricultural sector by cultivating successful black farmers who would be able to successfully manage larger commercial farms, whether they be divided into a number of smaller lots or stay intact.