Search

Post-apartheid South Africa is burdened with inequality, poverty and food insecurity. This paper seeks to answer the following question: How can agriculture in South Africa be transformed to ensure democratisation of the food regime for poor households (defined as the lower 50 per cent of the population)? In 2008, South Africa moved from being a net exporter of food to a net importer of food. Recent global trends have inflated food prices, exacerbating household hunger, poverty and inequality. The paper relies on methodological approaches sourced from international databases like the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the World Bank. The author takes cognisance of the fact that both institutions advance ideological positions that are not sustained in the paper. However, using this data debunks the ideational position that has been sustained. The author argues that South Africa’s quest for a democratic food regime is ideational, which requires agrarian reforms that challenge both the domestic and the global agricultural capitalist architecture, which will inevitably lead to transformation of power and social relations. Central to this argument is challenging the colonial modalities of land as ‘property’ to an African perspective of land as collective commons.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-106)., Mozambique is viewed by the donor community and multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank and IMF, as a success story of post-war construction and is used as a model to be emulated. The study proposes that, contrary to this belief, adjustment policies harm this poor economy. Also, neo-liberal economic policies have altered the role of state institutions, not eliminating state power, but redirecting it. This study challenges the neo-liberal claim that Mozambique's post-conflict political economy has been “revolutionary”. Economic reforms can benefit this economy, but alone, are insufficient to reduce poverty and economic dependence. The study found that, despite improvements in reducing the number of people living in poverty between 1992 and 2008, malnutrition, malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and corruption are on the increase.