Lere Amusan, Makgosi Loretta Kgotleng:
Land Reform Politics and Food Security Challenges in South Africa

LERE AMUSAN, MAKGOSI LORETTA KGOTLENG
$^{1}$North West University, Mafikeng Campus, Politics and International Relations, South Africa
$^{2}$North West University, Dept.of Sociology and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), South Africa

South Africa is the most industrialised state in Africa. This comes with a price in the epoch of globalisation where sovereignty is at bay when considering policy options by government. As a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the state is contending with the dictate of various international regimes of ultra-capitalism origin. The implication of this is that policy options at the domestic level should be in line with the dictates of globalism; hence globalisation of public policy. Activities of various multinational corporations (MNCs) in the country in the form of food production and its negative impacts on South Africans and government would have made the state president, Jacob Zuma, in his State of the Nation Address, to call for lease agreement with foreigners on the issue of land rather than for the previously willing buy, willing seller approach to land ownership in the country. The impacts of this on food production and food security, Vision 2030 through National Development Plan of neo"=liberalism and, by extension, on the Living Genetically Modified Organisms (LMOs) is yet to be seen. Before this time, the activities of large scale farmers through production of foods, almost enough for the Southern African states, makes South Africa to be a credible hegemon at the sub"=regional level. Attempts to cater for the previously disadvantaged blacks in the state is not without its lapses considering the way they want to be a party to food production. The 1996 Constitution, as amended, created an enabling environment for verandah farmers of lately with negative impacts on the state development and food security. As a member of WTO with all its politics of global patenting without border forced local farmers to embark on genetically modified seeds and animals with negative impacts on traditional food production. This, by extension continues to trample on human rights and the same is encouraging health challenges with more pressure on the state budget. This paper is going to adopt social constructivism in conjunction with triangulation data collection as departing point of its discussion. In doing this, the tentative conclusion is to encourage organic food production for a sustainable environment and general human development as a sine qua non to food security.

Keywords: Food security, South Africa

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Contact Address: Lere Amusan, North West University, Mafikeng Campus, Politics and International RelationsAlbert Luthuli / University Road, 2735 Mmabatho, South Africa, e-mail: lere.amusannwu.ac.za