Abstract
This chapter examines the institutional factors governing the existing patterns of communal rangelands utilization in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The discussion covered various institutional factors particularly those relevant to natural resource management at the communal level. Informal institutions such as customary laws and traditional institutions seem to have gone out of fashion in many places while in a number of communities indigenous institutions still operate but competitions between them and State structures has resulted in conflicts and confusion over definition, responsibilities, management procedures and enforcement mechanisms. A key finding is that lack of government support to communities has resulted in the poor management of resources. The consequence of this has been deterioration of the rangelands and impoverishment of the communities. The indication is that transaction costs and good governance structures are important in the common property institution and high levels of trust and cooperation between members are necessary to reduce these transaction costs. Furthermore, collective action on communal lands enables communities to share ideas on how best to manage their resources to ensure sustainability.
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Notes
- 1.
The Masters dissertation on which this chapter is based was supervised in part by Professor Gavin Fraser at the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Fort Hare and his contributions are gratefully acknowledged. Dr Sikhalazo Dube led the project under which this research was funded and his generous support is equally gratefully acknowledged.
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Mokhahlane, M., Obi, A. (2011). Institutional factors in natural resource management in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. In: Obi, A. (eds) Institutional constraints to small farmer development in Southern Africa. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-704-2_10
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