This essay is submitted to Noragric in partial fulfilment of the PhD Course in Development Studies offered during the autumn semester 2000. I have written the essay as part of a three month “PhD planning project” carried out under a cooperation programme between the Centre for International Environment and Development Studies, Noragric, Agricultural University of Norway and the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies, University of Western Cape, South Africa. The cooperation project is titled Human rights, governance and land reform in South Africa and will enter a three-year phase 2001 – 2003.