The land reform debate is too often reduced to statistics, with public discourse focused on the number of hectares transferred, the pace of redistribution and whether the programme has succeeded against numerical targets.

The statistics are important.However, relying solely on hectares does not tell the full story.

Land reform's true measure lies in whether the land is restored with dignity, activated productively and used to unlock meaningful social and economic transformation.

The rationale for South Africa's land reform programme is rooted in the need to redress the historical injustice of colonial dispossession and apartheid-era forced removals.

Land reform must correct the wrongs of the past while ensuring that restituted and redistributed land becomes a functional asset that improves the lives of beneficiaries and contributes to inclusive economic growth.

Its success must be assessed through outcome-based metrics.These include its ability to create jobs, support viable and sustainable land use, strengthen rural economies, expand agricultural productivity, contribute meaningfully to food security and drive eco-tourism.

South Africa does not have to reinvent the wheel.There are important lessons to draw from countries across Africa and Asia.

Tanzania's Ujamaa villagisation programme is one of the strongest cautionary examples of the risks associated with poorly designed communal land ownership models.The government abolished freehold title and vested land ownership in the state, with the aim of pooling land, labour and production tools.However, the programme failed to build sufficient productive momentum as many farmers resisted surrendering ancestral land to work on communal farms.Instead of driving productivity, the forced relocation of millions of people into densely populated hubs placed pressure on land, strained ecological systems, weakened agricultural output and contributed to chronic food shortages.

Zimbabwe, however, remains a cautionary tale for countries considering poorly planned and politically driven land reform interventions.The fast-track land reform programme, often invoked in debates about expropriation without compensation, disrupted agriculture and contributed to food insecurity.

By contrast, there are examples where land reform has been used more productively to strengthen community rights, secure tenure and broaden economic participation.

In Sierra Leone, the enactment of the Customary Land Rights Act and the National Land Commission Act in 2022 created new benchmarks for protecting community and women's land rights.In Ethiopia, a large-scale land certification programme supported the registration of individual community land rights across millions of land parcels.

The examples demonstrate that land reform can advance social justice and economic participation when it is supported by secure rights, effective institutions, governance systems and a focus on productive land use.

The real issue is whether beneficiaries are supported with the finance, technical capacity, infrastructure, governance systems and market access required to turn the land into a productive economic asset.This is the challenge the Motlanthe Panel also recognised when it identified political cronyism, inadequate post-settlement support, weak infrastructure and the absence of technical expertise as some of the constraints that have limited the impact of land reform.

The challenges have left vast stretches of restituted and redistributed land underused, undermining the programme's ability to deliver on its intended outcomes.

South Africa must move beyond narrow measures of progress.The real test is whether that land is being used productively, creating jobs, communities are earning income from it and it is contributing to food security and economic development.

In addition, a successful programme should revitalise rural economies by diversifying agricultural production, expanding agro-processing, supporting agricultural manufacturing, improving access to technology and developing the skills required to operate across the agriculture value chain and eco-tourism economy.Furthermore, land reform must create meaningful access to value chains, ensure that its beneficiaries are connected to reliable markets, agricultural processors, retailers and export value chains.

To achieve this, South Africa needs to drive a long-term shift from land transfer to land activation.

Beneficiary communities must not be left to navigate complex commercial markets alone, especially where they have limited capital, weak governance structures and inadequate technical support.

Backed by political will, institutional discipline and stronger collaboration between government, communities, investors and civil society, South Africa can build on the pockets of success, such as the progress achieved by Vumelana Advisory Fund over the past 15 years and scale them to ensure that land reform delivers sustainable outcomes.

Peter Setou is the chief executive of Vumelana Advisory Fund, a not-for-profit organisation that helps land reform beneficiaries put their land to productive use.