FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROCESS OF UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE WITHIN THE ERSTWHILE BOPHUTHATSWANA AND SOME LESSONS FOR DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA IN TERMS OF POLICY IMPERATIVES AND THE KEY ROLE OF AGRICULTURE IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPM

Abstract

This paper deals with the factors that contributed to the processes of uneven development in the management of agriculture in the former Bophuthatswana state. In outlining these factors certain management issues will be discussed by providing empirical evidence in this regard. Policy reforms in general will be raised in parts of the discussion. This is based on the premise that the amount of external assistance that would have been required to sustain Bophuthatswana’s economy and state in terms of addressing the manifest problems within government as a whole and for purposes of agricultural development and for reducing poverty, would have been substantially higher and will have been required for a much longer period. In attempting this, it is acknowledged that the recital of likely macroeconomic effects leaves out some important factors, and that the aggregative model does not pretend to capture all the richness and complexities of the former state’s agriculture and economy. Therefore, one cannot model the effects of all policy alternatives, nor does the discussion address questions of institutional or administrative reforms, except for introducing very briefly a specific viewpoint and opinion on the options that were open to Bophuthatswana. In as much as they affected its future, in terms of the constitutional proposals that were emerging in South Africa in the dynamic period of transition that ultimately led to the acceptance and construction of the democratic South African State in April of 1994.