“This paper examines the consequences of land reform for communal livestock farmers in Namaqualand. It investigates the likely outcomes of recent commonage acquisitions and tenure reform in the former ‘Coloured
Reserves’ using case study material drawn from the Leliefontein communal area. In particular, we try to answer two questions
about land reform in Namaqualand. The first is concerned with models of land management in both new and old common lands: what effect will the imposition of either a commercial or communal land management model have on twin objectives of poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability? We conclude that the commercial farming model is rarely
appropriate in Namaqualand’s communal areas and suggest that sustainable development is more likely under a flexible system
which takes account of both the objectives of communal farmers and the constraints under which they operate. The second
question explores the implications of recent policy shifts regarding the use of commonage as a ‘stepping stone’ for emergent black commercial farmers. We ask if this is feasible in the Namaqualand context and conclude that present rates of
grant are inadequate to provide incentives for emergent commercial farmers to move off the commons. The contradictions inherent in using the commons for both poverty
alleviation and as a ‘stepping stone’ are likely to result in a backward step reminiscent of the discredited ‘economic units’ policy.”
