As the South African government wages war against the prominent socio-economic ills of the apartheid legacy, new strategies, such as the Agri-parks programme are being employed to combat rural poverty, inequality, and agricultural unproductivity. Using the Cluster Initiative Performance Model (CIPM), the Agri-parks programme’s performance was analysed. The results showed that the initiative created Agri-parks that were more static than dynamic – with low levels of innovation and lacklustre performance. The above-mentioned was an indication that the Agri-parks programme was not organised and managed in a way that encouraged both competitive and collaborative behaviours within the cluster. Therefore, establishing institutional thickness as well as robust incentive systems for all the involved entities to benefit from was recommended.