Institutional factors in natural resource management in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 216

people (Masiteng et al. , 2003). Livestock, in most of the rural communities, graze on
communal rangelands, which, according to Duvel and Afful (1997), are areas used by
animals and people for different purposes such as grazing, collecting fuel wood, water,
medicinal plants and wild fruits. The form of tenure in most of the communal rangelands
is a common property under which non-members are excluded from utilizing the resources
within the rangelands (Shackleton and Cousins, 2000).
Despite the fact that communal rangelands continue to support rural farmers and their
livestock with natural resources, most of them are perceived to be degraded and the main
argument behind this degraded land is overstocking and excessive harvesting of wood.
Excessive harvesting changes vegetative structure, leading to loss of certain plant species
thereby disturbing the soil surface (Shackleton, 1993). In addition, degradation occurs
because of the free rider problem which is common on communal rangelands. This indicates
that there is no motivation for managing the grazing lands and as a result, the rangelands
become free for all those who want to use them (Ainslie, 2002).
10.2 Problem statement
The chiefs and their headmen have commonly controlled communal rangelands, were
responsible for allocating land to people, and imposed rules as to how to utilize the resources.
However, during the apartheid era, the responsibility of controlling rangelands went to
the government and various laws and permits regarding natural resource management
were established wherein offenders would pay for the misuse of resources (Twine, 2005).
For example, Van Averbeke (2000) indicated that in the Ciskei and Transkei former
independent homeland areas, the control over the allocation and enforcement of land
rights on traditional communal tenure was transferred from the chief and his community
to the government. This indicates that local institutions became ineffective in regulating the
system of communal tenure, because the chief no longer had a say regarding the management
of their resources.
Several programmes and schemes were initiated during the apartheid era. The aim of
these programmes was to improve land usage, for example, the betterment planning
commenced in 1955 with the intention of conserving the environment in order to improve
agricultural production. In most of the African communities, the land was divided into
residential and agricultural land. People who previously occupied agricultural land were
moved to residential areas (De Wet, 1995). Instead of improving land management and
ensuring sustainable livelihoods, the betterment planning programme, however, worsened
conditions because more poverty, deterioration of land and fewer agricultural activities
were experienced (Letsoala, 1987). Agricultural activities decreased because natural
resources were isolated from the homesteads and the joint operation by the communities