Land (and settlement) reform post-expropriation: Shifting the focus to the ‘Sustainable Human Settlement Development’ imperative

Abstract

Land reform in South Africa has paid less attention to the creation of fair and viable postapartheid urban human settlements than it has to rural land reform. While expropriation of land with or without compensation will deliver land, the question as to what happens post-expropriation has not been addressed. A reconsideration and redesign of the South African legal, policy and institutional frameworks, and spatial planning instruments are required, in order to enable the process of urban land reform to deliver on the development of sustainable human settlements. Since a number of countries have successfully dealt with large-scale restructuring and redevelopment, an examination of the methods employed in two countries, namely Rwanda, post-the genocide in 1994, and The Netherlands, post-World War II, is undertaken to facilitate that process.

Keywords: Land reform, national reconstruction, settlement development, South Africa, Rwanda, The Netherlands