This report was prepared for the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) in South Africa. In 2001 DLA set up the Communal Property Institutions (CPI) Task Team to review land reform legal entities. The purpose of the review and this report is to improve the situation and functioning of CPIs in order to move towards, rather than away from, achieving the objectives of land reform. To do this, the report covers:

• Methods of assessing and analysing cpi performance

• CPI assessment and analysis

• Offering explanations for causes of CPI problems

This archival paper takes a hard look at the claim that Communal Property Institutions established as part of South Africa's land reform programme are failing. It argues that there are no meaningful indicators against which assessments of success or failure can be made. It asserts that the tenure security of the group and its members should be the primary purpose of land reform CPIs because secure tenure is the primary mechanism for reducing risk for vulnerable people and is the universal need of the group.

This think piece sets out to:

The review examines evolving ideas and approaches to rural development internationally from the 1950's to 2000s. It examines how the history of rural development in South Africa is embedded in the larger narrative of colonial land dispossession and the implementation of apartheid policies of separate development. It examines the various policy iniatives post 1994 relating to land reform, agriculture and rural development.

Land reform and rural development are routinely presented as key components of the poverty reduction strategy driven by the State. The restitution programme occupies a particular place in the broader land reform programme as it specifically seeks to redress the land dispossession which took place since 1913 and to alleviate the impoverishment and suffering it caused. Restitution is a hugely challenging undertaking which involves much more than the verification of claimants and the restoration of land.