Examination of socio-economic benefits of land restitution in the Makuleke community of Limpopo Province

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the social and economic benefits of land restitution in the Makuleke Community of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used. A questionnaire was administered to 100 randomly selected respondent beneficiaries. Twenty-one beneficiaries were interviewed as individuals and/ or focus groups. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The Statistica! Package for Social Sciences version 22.0 was used to compute frequencies of responses. The beneficiaries acknowledged that there were various benefits that accrued to them and the Makuleke community. The benefits had considerable impact on their livelihoods. lt was revealed that jobs had been created through community projects although only few beneficiaries were absorbed. Social benefits were mainly in the form of improved infrastructure that included constructed roads and regular maintenance, sanitation, clinics and schools. Within the community projects, beneficiaries benefited from skills transfer and training. However, the respondents pointed out that there were challenges that significantly affected them as beneficiaries of land restitution. The most critica! situation among them was poor werking conditions and the tact that most jobs were seasonal. Wages were low and not attractive. Complaints about poor local market for their products were raised. lt was believed that appropriate intervention by either government or big businesses could bring about significant changes that could help reduce poverty and hunger. These results confirm that land restitution was beneficia! to Makuleke residents. Moreover, the results provided an understanding of the prevailing situation which could be used to make informed decisions for better performance of land restitution projects. Further research is required to investigate whether age and gender effects existed with respect to perceptions on social and economic benefits of land restitution in Makuleke community.