The Recapitalisation and Development Programme (RADP) was supposed to rescue land reform. Instead, it became the final stage in a chain of corruption that stripped farms bare and abandoned their workers.
**The Programme**
Introduced in 2009, RADP was designed to provide post-settlement support to struggling land reform farms. The government would pair farm beneficiaries with "strategic partners" — experienced farmers or agribusiness operators — who would provide expertise, mentorship, and operational management. R3.4 billion was allocated.
**The Capture**
In practice, the strategic partner model was captured from the start. An academic study in the Journal of Southern African Studies documented elite capture in detail:
- Strategic partners saw the programme merely as a conduit to access government funding - Partners inflated prices on every item purchased — inputs, equipment, services — pocketing the margins - State officials and agribusiness partners stripped farms of machines and implements - Recapitalisation funds were siphoned through various mechanisms - No clarity existed on selection criteria for beneficiaries, resulting in inclusion of undeserving recipients
**The Devastating Outcomes**
DALRRD itself conceded at a parliamentary briefing that RADP "did not have a significant impact on productivity." The numbers confirmed this: - 397 of 529 supported farms (75%) remained subsistence-level or entirely unproductive - Crop production decreased by 79% on average - More than half of beneficiaries reported no substantial production - The same percentage had low capacity to achieve commercial status
**The Human Cost**
Farmworkers were left vulnerable to what Corruption Watch described as "fly-by-night crony capitalists and corrupt state bureaucrats" who captured production support, stripped farm assets, and abandoned farms. The intended beneficiaries of land reform — historically disadvantaged communities — bore the brunt.
Beneficiaries who managed to farm successfully were, in some cases, allegedly replaced by politically connected cadres. The system rewarded connections, not competence.
**Programme Discontinued**
RADP was stopped in 2019 and replaced. The AG identified R580 million in unreconciled RADP disbursements through the Agricultural Land Holding Account — money spent with no clear record of what it achieved.