Synopsis
Mugabe’s policy of land seizures in Zimbabwe raised concerns in South Africa. Would the same thing happen there given that some politicians signalled support for these actions? The South African Press reported attacks on white farmers in remote areas; they in turn formed vigilante groups which directed violence against African farm-dwellers. Land reform first captured, but then served to disappoint popular expectations aroused by South Africa’s first democratic election. Set amidst these conflicts, Gaining Ground? shows how land reform policy and practise in post-apartheid South Africa have been produced and contested.
