Creator
Ben Cousins
Prof Ben Cousins' research is strategic and use-oriented, for policy-makers and civil society groups concerned with reducing poverty and inequality through redistributing assets, securing rights and democratising decision-making in rural areas.
Study shows land redistribution can create new jobs in agriculture in South Africa
When South Africa eventually emerges from the fog of the Covid-19 crisis, will policy makers be ready to grasp the nettle of farm scale, and promote the large-scale…
Small-scale farmers should be at the centre of land reform in South Africa
South Africa’s land reform programme will fail if it continues to neglect smallholder farming
South Africa’s land debate is clouded by misrepresentation and lack of data
South Africa’s land policy is flailing around in the dark, with the haziest of understandings of how well or how badly land reform is doing
South Africa is still way behind the curve on transforming land ownership
There is very little clarity as to who owns what land in South Africa. A lack of reliable data and statistics doesn’t help.
ANC land policies: Talk left, walk right?
It’s good election rhetoric but the main problems dogging farm redistribution are not being addressed, say Ben Cousins and Ruth Hall.
Farming problems are clear but the solutions are not
Can we create one million new jobs in agriculture as envisaged by the National Development Plan (NDP)? If so, how?
Land redistribution needs political will
As the ANC meets to discuss its most important policies, land remains one of the hottest issues, writes Ben Cousins.
Time to ditch the ‘disaster’ scenarios
“Total failure” is an inaccurate way to describe Zimbabwe’s farming sector, despite its problems following land reform.
How not to understand Zim
Most media coverage of Zimbabwe unthinkingly repeats and reinforces a Western and neoliberal perception of the history and causes of that country’s political and economic crisis.…
Land and agriculture policy: Back to the roots
Lulu Xingwana, the new Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, faces enormous challenges. Policies to sustain a productive agricultural sector must contend with a global trade…
Looming land disaster
”The more that policy changes in South Africa, the more it is the same.” These words are from Govan Mbeki’s seminal book on rural resistance, The Peasants’ Revolt. In the…
Labour pains plague land reform’s laatlammetjie
Nine months ago the controversial Communal Land Rights Bill was published for public comment. After a long gestation period, it now appears that the Bill may be stillborn.
Draft land Bill should be rejected
The long-awaited draft Communal Land Rights Bill sets out the government’s proposals to resolve urgent land tenure problems in former homeland areas. These problems include the…