The politics of land reform in southern africa edward lahiff. Land reform politics in zimbabwe and south africa nyu arts. Zimbabwe, on one side of the spectrum, is facing a crisis in. Intercountry cooperation 230,000 0 10,000 22,500 10,000 272,500 1. Simultaneously, the famous lancaster house constitution expires. An adapted version of this paper appears in the edited collection post independence land reform in zimbabwe, published in may 2004 by the friedrich ebert stiftung in harare. This study focused on the significance of land reform programme in zimbabwe. Land reform in zimbabwe officially began in 1980 with the signing of the lancaster house agreement, as an effort to more equitably distribute land between black subsistence farmers and white zimbabweans of european ancestry, who had traditionally enjoyed superior political and economic status. Government will at all times act in the best interest of our nation. Johannesburg, 3 october irin zimbabwes fasttrack land reform programme has ignored the critical role played by the commercial farming sector. Land reform in zimbabwe neil h thomas department of city and regional planning, cardiff university, glamorgan building, king edward vii avenue, cardiff, cf10 3wa, wales email. Land reform will explicitly target these objectives, and treat them as.
Overall impacts of fast track land reform programme. In tracing the zimbabwean land reform policy trajectory, four distinct. Thus 80% of the population was confined to % of the land while less than 20% owned over 80% of the land. The land reform in zimbabwe was organised in line with that slogan and had the following basic elements of speed, which made it to be known as the fast track land reform. Zimbabwe has a long history of land reform that dates back to the early 1980s. Land reform, sanctions, regime change, and sovereignty. Can land redistribution be achieved by encouraging landowners to offer farms for sale voluntarily, or should the government compulsorily acquire land for redistribution. This pdf is made available under a creative commons.
Land reform is probably one of the most difficult domestic policy issues to be dealt with by zimbabwe, namibia, south africa and australia. Communal land, property rights and traditional leadership current context what is at stake. The land reform and property rights in zimbabwe of 2010 is a sequel report to. In the attempt to untangle the various consequences of land redistribution, drought and economic reform, use is made of a unique data set comprising longitudinal information on two groups of households. The topic i was asked to address, as indicated by the title, is restricted to a discussion of land tenure, property regimes and traditional leadership in communal areas. Land reform in zimbabwe free international relations and. Thus, mashonaland east province was selected as a case study because historically this province suffered a lot in the first and second chimurenga wars. And yet, few can be surprised the land question in zimbabwe has come to the fore.
Key words zimbabwe, land reform, economic returns, propensityscore matching 1. In each of these countries the process of land reform is incomplete. Communal land, property rights and traditional leadership. Pdf on mar 1, 20, tendai chari and others published media. Pdf there is widespread agreement on the need for land reform in zimbabwe as a means of reducing poverty. Fast track land reform in zimbabwe centre for public. While the west was quick to dismiss zimbabwe as another failed african state, new research shows that zimbabwe is actually recovering, and that land reform is working. See sam moyo, land reform and redistribution in zimbabwe since 1980, in land and agrarian reform in zimbabwe. Political economy analysis of fast track land reform. Zimbabwe, on one side of the spectrum, is facing a crisis in democratisation due to its radical approach to land reform.
Robert mugabe wanted to use his land reform program to eliminate the traces of colonialism by giving farms to black. In the late 1990s, the government of zimbabwe held a conference on land reform in zimbabwe. Shemyakina georgia institute of technology school of economics draft. The government, the interested parties including the farmers, and internation. This did, of course, happen, and continues to do so. Black people were prohibited from buying land in areas outside the reserves. Land reform in zimbabwe, 19801990 robin palmer introduction on 18 april 1990 zimbabwe celebrates the 10th anniversary of its independence. Land reform will explicitly target these objectives, and treat them as mutually inclusive and reenforcing. Moyo, the interaction of market and compulsory land acquisition processes with social action in zimbabwes land reform, p. World media demonised zimbabwe and the fasttrack land reforms which were initiated in 1999. Much of this land was previously cattle ranches, with limited. The land reform and property rights in zimbabwe of 2010 is a sequel report to the 2007, adding insult to injury, a preliminary report on human rights violations on commercial farms 20002005. Box 8 ngos in the implementation of land reform in the philippines 30 box 9 rsa section 25 constitutional clauses relating to expropriation 33 box 10 new south african land tenure laws 35 box 11 objectives of zimbabwe s phase 1 land reform and resettlement programme 41 box 12 rsa constitutional clauses relating to land reform 47. The invasion of the largely whiteowned farms, accompanied by violent evictions and wholesale and wanton destruction and looting in 2000, led to a crisis between the judiciary and the executive that resulted in most of the judiciary being forced out of office.
Whitsun foundation, land reform in zimbabwe whitsun foundation, harare, 1983. July 11, 2014 abstract the article examines the impact of politicallymotivated violence in zimbabwe following the 2000 referendum and the accompanying it controversial land reform on children. Pdf media framing of land reform in zimbabwe researchgate. Introduction at independence in 1980 zimbabwe inherited a highly skewed pattern of land distribution. The fasttrack land reform and agrarian change in zimbabwe. The lessons from zimbabwes land reform for its neighbors. A 1998 survey of farm workers in zimbabwe detailing their demographic, and skill, land access and viewpoints of land reform and redistribution is used to examine the very real constraints and the possibilities for poverty reduction among longstanding marginalized social groups in the ongoing fasttrack land resettlement in zimbabwe. Land free fulltext bring back the landa call to refocus on. The government came up with new and revised land reform policy after 1990, passing the land acquisition act in 1992, which was supposed to speed up the land reform process through land designation and compulsory acquisition. This policy allowed government to acquire, for compensation, land that it deemed.
Ultimately, this note concludes that, even in the context of zimbabwe s similar land crisis, south africas land reform program will prove to be successful in the years to come. Government will continue to accelerate the pace of land reform within the framework of the constitution of the republic of south africa, respective legislation and according to the rule of law. Land reform is probably one of the most difficult domestic policy issues to bedealt with by zimbabwe, namibia, south africa and australia. The issue has its roots in the colonial period, when rudd, in 1888, per. In mazowe, the agritex files 2004 showed that farms totalling. The paper documents the nature of the radical transformation of agrarian structure that has. Land reform in south africa is a moral, social and economic imperative. The need for land reform south africa suffered a long history of colonization, racial domination and land dispossession that resulted in the bulk of the agricultural land being owned by a white minority. From its inception, land reform in zimbabwe has attracted extensive and.
Zimbabwe government, 1998 the dramatic manifestation of the skewed distribution of land was the ownership of 15. Land reform, sanctions, regime change, and sovereignty one of the enduring problems of the zimbabwe crisis revolves around understanding the meaning of the terms employed by the respective protagonists to describe the crisis, whether they are zimbabwean, african, or western. Disparity between policy design and implementation medicine masiiwa institute of development studies university of zimbabwe may 2004 note. Amin addresses zimbabwe s politics of land and statemaking since independence, 10 but an analysis of the intricate relationship between colonial and postcolonial demands for land is sometimes glossed over. Speeding up the identification for compulsory acquisition of not less than. Aug 30, 2017 the first phase of land reform was implemented in zimbabwe in the 1980s, so when the ftlrp was launched the government had experience of the nature of the process and its repercussions. The paper documents the nature of the radical transformation of agrarian structure. But equally as valid is the view that the case for land reform needed to be reinforced because of the failure of zimbabwes friends and sponsorsthe multilateral and bilateral agencies especiallyto persuade robert mugabe that land reform was too important to be neglected. Africas land problem, and the implementation of south africas land reform program. In april 2009, a tribunal of the international centre for settlement of investment disputes icsid ordered the government of zimbabwe to compensate a group of dutch nationals whose farms were expropriated under zimbabwes controversial land reform program. Broader issues of land reform, including redistribution, are beyond. Evaluate the failures and or successes of land tenure reform in zimbabwe. Msp appendix 4 detailed budget gef unhabitat mozambique.
The study reported that of around 7 million hectares of land redistributed via the land reform or 20% of zimbabwe s area, 49. Gef unhabitat mozambique south africa zimbabwe total cost activity pdf a 0 25,000 0 0 0 25,000 outcome 1. This apportionment of land remained until the end of apartheid in early 1990s and remains virtually unchanged. There is widespread agreement on the need for land reform in zimbabwe as a means of reducing poverty. The second phase of the land redistribution and resettlement programme in the form of the fast track land reform programme ftlrp, which started in 2000, has created an expanded number and array of small, medium and large scale farms, and effectively transferring ownership from the minority, white farmers to new indigenous farmers. However, the land reform program is far from over and successful despite the successful resettling of this significant number of people. Land reform in zimbabwe has been highly controversial. Pdf an examination of the significance of land reform. Moyo, the interaction of market and compulsory land acquisition processes with social action in zimbabwe s land reform, p. Zimbabwes land reform is that all the land went to mugabes cronies. In this section, we zero in on masvingo province in the central south and east of the country.
It does so through a historical and regional political economy lens, enabling the analysis to scrutinize south africas contradictory position with regards to zimbabwe within a framework of failed land reform and potential destabilizing popular discontentment. Introduction the land question is one of the central themes in zimbabwean politics. Zimbabwes fast track land reform program ftlrp formally began. First is to achieve political stability, second is establishing a broader base for economic growth, and third is the need for social integration. A total of 712 of these claims, for 292 995 hectares, were settled between 2009 and december 2011, against a target of 1 845 claims for the period. The zimbabwean government will then at last be able to tackle the contentious and highly politicised land. World bank, zimbabwe agricultural sector study world bank, washington, report no. The fast track land reform programme ftlrp in zimbabwe has been the focus of heated. Zimbabwe, namibia and south africa have adopted marketassisted land reform, although zimbabwe now seems to have abandoned it.
The dutch claimants in the case, bernardus henricus funnekotter and others v. A mere reference to land reforms in zimbabwe raised eyebrows. Nov, 20 while the west was quick to dismiss zimbabwe as another failed african state, new research shows that zimbabwe is actually recovering, and that land reform is working. And, despite the largely negative press over the years, recent reports have sought to highlight some of the more positive aspects of zimbabwes land reform and agricultural growth. The impact of land reform in zimbabwe on the conservation of cheetahs and other large carnivores thesis pdf available october 2011 with 8,018 reads how we measure reads. Benefits and costs of land reform in zimbabwe with implications for southern africa, klaus deininger, hans hoogeveen and bill kinsey. Radical redistribution of land has remained a staple of the zimbabwe political discourse since long before. Fig 5 with little in the way of equipment, farmers manually tend their crops in zimbabwe. This paper assesses the potential consequences of a landreform scheme that draws on proposals. Pdf most commentary on zimbabwes land reform insists that agricultural. Tackling such extreme excesses of land grabbing through a land audit remains a major challenge. From freedom charter to cautious land reform the politics.
Oct 03, 2002 johannesburg, 3 october irin zimbabwe s fasttrack land reform programme has ignored the critical role played by the commercial farming sector in the economy, analysts and farmers have warned. Africa zimbabwes fasttrack land reform shows little benefit 15 years on. The land reform programme in zimbabwe has been a major area of international discussion for almost five years now. This is further corroborated by literature from undergraduate and postgraduate students who have done researchwork on resettlement areas, especially in masvingo province. The programmes stated targets were intended to alter the ethnic balance of land ownership. Phil okeefe, land use and agricultural productivity in zimbabwe, journal of modern african studies, 23 1985, pp. A small minority of white largescale commercial farmers owned and farmed most of the better agricultural land. It has led to zimbabwes economic and social collapse. Baseline study on cooperation 40,000 0 0 0 0 40,000 1.
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