Institutional factors in natural resource management in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 241

f. Local farmers organisations: Communities with a greater existence of local organisations
are expected to make higher contributions for management practices and are more likely
to establish penalty systems.

10.9.1 Access to land

Figure 10.4 illustrates access to land by new settlers. According to this figure, new settlers
are allocated land by the government. That is, 98%, 96% and 90% of the respondents from
Lashington, Tsaba and Magwiji respectively have been allocated land by the government.

10.9.2 Grazing lands

In the three communities, all the respondents have access to grazing lands. These grazing
lands are used for grazing animals and for other purposes such as collecting fuel wood,
medical plants, building poles and thrash grass. Comparing grazing lands in these three
communities, Tsaba has good grazing lands followed by Lashington. On the other hand,
Magwiji's grazing lands are not in good condition. Rotational grazing is practiced in all the
three communities.

In addition, Figure 10.5 shows that about 94% of the respondents from Lashington have
access to these grazing lands by virtue of being resident in these community followed by
80% and 85% from Magwiji and Tsaba respectively. Other members have applied from
the village committees. The grazing lands are the property of the government that sets
the rules on how the communities should utilize the land. The responsibility of the
communities therefore is to collectively enforce and ensure that the rules are followed. In

120

100

80

Chief
Government

60

40

20

0

Lash Magwiji Tsaba

Village

Figure 10.4. Distribution of land to new settlers in Magwii, Tsaba and Lashington.