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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
By Delia Robertson
Changing the demographics of land ownership in South Africa is an ongoing1 and enormous challenge. Under apartheid, 87 percent of the land mass was earmarked for whites who comprised just 13 percent of the population.
The first challenge of the government's five-part reform program was housing in and around towns and cities. Ownership of state-owned houses in so-called black townships was transferred to the occupiers and the government embarked2 on an intensive campaign to build some five million low-cost homes in 10 years.
Even so, huge backlogs3 remain with seven million South Africans still occupying shanties4 in informal settlements.
The next step was restitution5 of land taken from black South Africans between 1913 and 1994. A land claims commission and land claims court was put into place to administer and adjudicate some 80,000 claims.
President Thabo Mbeki has set December 2005 as the deadline for settlement of all restitution claims, but professor Ben Cousins says that target is likely to slip.
"And in our view, that's unlikely to be met, because the great majority of rural claims have not been settled - and they usually involve land," he said. "People are offered a choice, of either restoring their original land and often their first choice; or, if that's not possible receiving alternative land; or, receiving a cash compensation payout."
Professor Cousins, director of the Program for Land & Agrarian6 Studies at the University of the Western Cape7, says that the restitution program remains8 severely9 under resourced.
"We don't think they can finish the program by the end of next year," he said, "and we also think that they need even greater increases in their budget than they have received recently to do that and they also have to really take on the challenge of supporting people's livelihood10 activities once they've had their land restored to them."
The third element of land reform in South Africa is redistribution of farmland. Just 13 percent of the country's landmass is suitable for crop production or animal husbandry, almost all of it owned by white commercial farmers.
It is this area of reform that has been lagging behind, even though more than half of white farmers support the government's land reform policies. Wayne Jordaan of The Rural Action Committee in Potchefstroom says the slow pace of redistribution is hampering11 rural development and poverty relief.
"And for us that is a very big problem because land reform and appropriate rural development is one of the mechanisms12 in which our country can address the severe poverty problems that we are experiencing in our country," he said.
Mr. Jordaan says that in addition to delay in redistribution caused both by policy weaknesses and financial constraints13, there are insufficient14 support programs to ensure that benefits reach surrounding communities.
"So in my opinion in the rural areas it will make significant impact, at the same time you need to have other programs in support of that agricultural outpoint that you desire," he said. "For example the process of beneficiation that where not everybody can actually have a farm or work a farm, they can benefit from agricultural output."
The fourth element of land reform is so-called tenure15, which protects individuals such as farm workers who have lived for years on commercial farms. Professor Cousins says, as in the case of restitution, tenure is enshrined in the constitution.
"And also on the basis of clearly defined rights the need for tenure reform is laid out in the constitution so people whose tenure of land, whose land rights are legally insecure as a result of past practices and laws, are entitled to the extent provided by an act of parliament to either legally secure land tenure; or to comparable redress," he said.
The longer a worker lives on a farm, the more rights he enjoys while the farmer's right to evict16 workers decreases. As a result more and more farmers use part-time workers or contractors17 which allows them to fire and evict fulltime workers as surplus to their needs. In these cases, says Mr Jordaan, the law is actually being used against farm workers.
"Where we are trying to get farm workers security of tenure, often current landowners are using that legislation to actually get farm dwellers18 evicted," he said.
The final element of South Africa's land reform program is communal19 land, for which, in most cases, ownership is vested in the state. New legislation provides for transferring ownership to communities while protecting individual tenure.
But Professor Cousins says the legislation does not adequately address the rights of women and that administration of communal lands will fall under traditional leaders, many of whom are discredited20. But, he says, the biggest challenge is going to be defining both the communities and the boundaries of the land they occupy.
While most analysts21 agree that the legislative22 framework for land reform in South Africa is generally good, they also agree that weaknesses are often to be found in policy and implementation23.
The government appears to have taken some of these criticisms to heart. There is new legislation in the pipeline24 to address redistribution and management of farmland; and this week the Land and Agriculture minister is holding a workshop to address issues of support for newly settled landowners.
Delia Robertson, VOA News, Johannesburg.
注释:
demographics 人口统计状况
apartheid 隔离政策
embark on 着手
restitution 归还
compensation 补偿
budget 预算
redistribution 重新分配
The Rural Action Committee 乡村组织委员会
Potchefstroom 波特斯卓姆
insufficient 不充分的
parliament 议会
legislation 法律
1 ongoing | |
adj.进行中的,前进的 | |
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2 embarked | |
乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 ); 装载; 从事 | |
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3 backlogs | |
积压未办之事( backlog的名词复数 ); 没交付的订货; 备用; 备用物 | |
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4 shanties | |
n.简陋的小木屋( shanty的名词复数 );铁皮棚屋;船工号子;船歌 | |
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5 restitution | |
n.赔偿;恢复原状 | |
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6 agrarian | |
adj.土地的,农村的,农业的 | |
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7 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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8 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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9 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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10 livelihood | |
n.生计,谋生之道 | |
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11 hampering | |
妨碍,束缚,限制( hamper的现在分词 ) | |
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12 mechanisms | |
n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 );机械装置;[生物学] 机制;机械作用 | |
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13 constraints | |
强制( constraint的名词复数 ); 限制; 约束 | |
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14 insufficient | |
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的 | |
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15 tenure | |
n.终身职位;任期;(土地)保有权,保有期 | |
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16 evict | |
vt.驱逐,赶出,撵走 | |
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17 contractors | |
n.(建筑、监造中的)承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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18 dwellers | |
n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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19 communal | |
adj.公有的,公共的,公社的,公社制的 | |
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20 discredited | |
不足信的,不名誉的 | |
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21 analysts | |
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 ) | |
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22 legislative | |
n.立法机构,立法权;adj.立法的,有立法权的 | |
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23 implementation | |
n.实施,贯彻 | |
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24 pipeline | |
n.管道,管线 | |
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