ABSTRACT
South Africa’s post-apartheid government has embarked on several policy-driven programmes that aim to reduce social inequality and to improve the quality of life in poverty-stricken areas. The land reform programme is arguably one of the most challenging tasks. Following more than three centuries of conflict over land, which were characterized by inequality, dispossession and exploitation, the government is currently trying to set right the wrongs of the past. Included in this history is the forced removal of people from their land, which was to become designated for various purposes, including biodiversity conservation (Wynberg and Kepe, 1999). One example of this is the Mkambati Nature Reserve, located on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. This short case study illustrates some of the lessons that have been gleaned from working with communities in the Mkambati area.
