The Natives Land Act 1913
The foundation for racial segregation policies started with the Natives Land Act in 1913. This act prohibited natives from buying land outside of their reserves set aside for their own use. These reserves had land of very poor quality and the farmers struggled to produce.
“The 1913 Act did not aim to move black people off commercial farms but to keep them there as workers rather than tenants,”- historians William Beinart and Peter Delius
Agriculture Now
Agriculture's share of GDP is now about 2%, and about 95% of the total gross value of agricultural production is generated in the white-controlled commercial center. There have been attempts for land reforms, but there are still some injustices, as 90% of large commercial farms are owned by white farmers who are given support by the government.
“One hundred years after the Land Act denied black land ownership, the ANC government is supporting traditional leaders in upholding this ‘tradition’,”- Aninka Claassens, Senior Researcher and Rural Women's Action Research Project director- Nick Lewis