72 worsening the funding crisis. The level of flexibility in doing work has decreased tremendously. CSOs have to stick to the business plans (funding proposals) as presented and agreed upon with their funding partners. There is also a decline in the number of skilled employees as the state and other sectors continue to recruit key personnel from the NGO sector. In addition, the global funding crisis precipated by the 2008 financial and economic crisis limits the ability of CSOs to apply corporate governance standards under the King III. In this environment CSOs find the King III reporting requirements onerous, given the size of the organisation and the priority for the use of funds in a particular way. Civil society formations also oppose King III on the basis of its inapplicability, given civil society’s objective of social rather than financial profit. So, the sector launched an Independent Code of Governance for Non-profit Organisations in South Africa on 25 July 2012 which was supported by umbrella organisations representing the majority of NPOs. To ensure broader application, the King III implementing body set up a Special Committee to address the concerns of Non-profit organisations and highlight the relevance of its obligations and Code to the sector. The above Committee held consultations in October 2012 and the Institute of DirectorsSouth Africa released special notes on the application of King III for the NPO sector. These consultative and national processes achieved greater discussion around the implementation and understanding of King III as well as on whether the Independent Code of Governance should be applied. On the whole there is consensus in the CSO sector on the desirability of the adoption of some form of corporate governance codes. Over 50 umbrella and independent networks are publicly noted to have adopted the Independent Code of Governance for Non Profit Organisations representing the larger majority of NPOs. 3.4 SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 3.4.1 Increasing the pace of land reform and access to rural land In South Africa the year 2013 marks the centenary of the 1913 Land Act.The Act was enacted on 19 June 1913. The Land Act provisions limited African land ownership to 7% which was later increased to 13% through the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act of South Africa. The Act restricted black people from buying or occupying land except as employees of white people. It however gave white people ownership of 87% of land and leaving black people to scramble for a mere 13% of land. It is against this backdrop that black people found themselves displaced in their own land. The Act made life extremely difficult for black people until the Commission of Restitution of Land Rights was established in 1994 to provide equitable redress to victims of racially motivated land dispossession, in line with the provisions of the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 (Act No. 22 of 1994). The civil society, labour, business and the government are all fully aware of the challenges in the area of land reform. For its part, government has embarked on numerous bold steps to mitigate and reverse the negative impact of this Act. In relation to progress in terms of government performance in this area, it is worth noting that between 2009 and 2011, approximately 823 300 hectares of land were acquired and allocated to 20 290 beneficiaries through the redistribution programme. About 76 368 land claims relating to 2.9 million hectares of land were settled. Furthermore, 595 farms were rehabilitated through the redistribution programme by rebuilding the infrastructure. 72