Land reform has returned to prominence not just in zimbabwe but also in southern africa more generally. Land reform, implementation, land information system, cadastre, sustainable development. This paper concerns changing the institutional structure governing land reform. 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. The country is landlocked and situated in southern africa over a total land area of 390,757 square kilometers. His latest publication by zed books is biofuels, land grabbing and food. Land reform is probably one of the most difficult domestic policy issues to bedealt with by zimbabwe, namibia, south africa and australia. Beverly peters governments throughout the world have found difficulty. This paper reports on a bicountry collaborative research project undertaken in 2002 assessing the feasibility and form of devolution for land administration. Zimbabwe has a long history of land reform that dates back to the early 1980s. Download limit exceeded you have exceeded your daily download allowance. The programmes stated targets were intended to alter the ethnic balance of. A framework for discussion papers part of the zimbabwe land series dale dor april 10th, 2012 abstract this article sets the tone and lays out a framework for the presentation of a series of discussion papers on land policy in zimbabwe. Arbitrary changes to the legislative framework have contributed to the high level of confusion that has been provoked by the fast track initiative.
Land reform in zimbabwe has been highly controversial. Land reform is probably one of the most difficult domestic policy issues to be dealt with by zimbabwe, namibia, south africa and australia. Kay 1997 postulates that in indonesia land reforms also known as agrarian reform, through that can have a broader meaning is an often controversial alteration in the societal arrangements whereby a government administers the ownership and use of land. The colonialists strengthened their land reform and redistribution program by enacting entrenched legislation. Institute of development studies, university of sussex, brighton, uk the recon.
Since its independence from britain in 1980, zimbabwe has attempted four different land reform phases aimed at addressing land injustices and inequality inherited from the. There are those who are of the opinion that all land acquired should be returned to evicted farmers, full stop. Zimbabwe does not regret embarking on the land reform programme, which attracted debilitating economic sanctions from the west, because it is a principled nation that knows its destiny, president. 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. The success of the zimbabwe land reforms spacebattles forums. Ray bush and lionel cliffe, agrarian policy in migrant labour societies. Speeding up the identification for compulsory acquisition of not less than. Zanu pf chefs and blind followers praised land redistribution as one of president robert mugabes major successes, an epitome of his three. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for. Without democracy and free elections, the people of zimbabwe. The international community does not come with clean hands to the current fast track land reform process. The government published its policy framework for the land reform and resettlement programme phase ii lrrp ii and gather financial support for it.
But perhaps more than any other issue in zimbabwe, it has historically been met with inertia from government and the international community. The situation of commercial farm workers after land reform in zimbabwe 5 the focus of this report derives from the mission and programme priorities of the farm community trust of zimbabwe fctz, which commissioned it. Fast track land reform in zimbabwe centre for public impact. That the land issue has been the epicenter of zimbabwes sociopolitical and economic struggles since colonial times is hardly disputable. The nexus between the fast track land reform programme and. But rhetorical acknowledgement of the need for land reform does not imply acceptance of the scale and approaches to land reform proposed. The nexus between the fast track land reform programme. Indeed, the phrase everyone agrees that land reform is needed has become a cliche.
What has never changed in almost 30 years of implementing land reform has been the political setup and governance systems providing policy direction to the programme. On land issues, that means a picture of a predatory state driving white farmers off the land and handing it out to cronies and bogus war veterans, who fail to produce anything much in the way of crops zimbabwe takes back its land, a new book coauthored by joe hanlon, jeanette. Download statistics measured since january 1st, 2014. The economic effects of land reform in tajikistan food and. In each of these countries the process of land reform is incomplete. Zimbabwe, on one side of the spectrum, is facing a crisis in democratisation due to its radical approach to land reform.
Land reform and poverty alleviation in mashonaland east, zimbabwe blessing makunike a thesis submitted to meet the requirements for the degree philosophiae doctor in africa studies in the faculty of the humanities centre for africa studies. Most coverage of zimbabwes land reform insists that. Rural zimbabwe empties as mugabe land reform policy. Benefits and costs of land reform in zimbabwe with implications for southern africa, klaus deininger, hans hoogeveen. On land issues, that means a picture of a predatory state driving white farmers off the land and handing it out to cronies and bogus war veterans, who fail to produce anything much in the way of crops zimbabwe takes back its land, a new book coauthored by joe hanlon, jeanette mangengwa and teresa smart, sheds. Using aggregate data on land reforms in india from 1957 to 1992, i find that reforms are indeed timed before elections. Feb 28, 2017 read more on zimbabwes economic crisis. He has published widely and has contributed to many national, regional and international networks on land and agrarian reform issues.
Download the report the fast track land resettlement program implemented by the government of zimbabwe over the last two years has led to serious human rights violations. Zimbabwes often violent land reform programme has not been the complete economic disaster widely portrayed, a new study has found. Overturning the settler colonial pattern of land use and creating a new agrarian structure has had farreaching consequences. Moral arguments for land redistribution in contemporary. Print and ebook editions of this work are available to zed. The white land system embedded arguments about the incompatibility of. Fast track land reform in zimbabwe centre for public. Too often, ideological positions trump empirical realities and detailed analysis. Fao, policy options for agrarian reform in zimbabwe. A critical analysis of the land reform programme in zimbabwe francis chitsike, zimbabwe key words. By charles mutasa, an international development policy consultant who focuses on issues related to socioeconomic development, governance, land, health and human rights. Zimbabwe land reform support project english abstract.
As true land reform inevitably has an element of confiscation, however, it can never be a purely economic policy. A critical analysis of the land reform programme in zimbabwe. Land reform brings prosperity to black zimbabweans. Moral arguments for land redistribution in contemporary zimbabwe and gracchan rome. There is widespread agreement on the need for land reform in zimbabwe as a means of reducing poverty. The land reform programme in zimbabwe has been a major area of international discussion for almost five years now. Kinsey free university amsterdam, amsterdam, the netherlands university of zimbabwe, harare, zimbabwe summary. Zimbabwe land policy study 2 executive to undermine the independence of the judiciary and subvert the rule of law in order to remove obstacles to the implementation of the land reform programme. The paper will also look at the zimbabwe governments. The land policy agenda must be driven and owned at the individual country level and. Summary the land reform programme in zimbabwe has been a major area of international discussion for almost five years now. Communal lands are therefore a creation of the very early land redistribution program carried out by the colonialists. This paper assesses the potential consequences of a land reform.
Land reform may consist of a governmentinitiated or governmentbacked property. Conflicts, zimbabwean land reform programme, land question, female farm workers, fast track land reform 1. Land reform in zimbabwe free international relations and. The lessons from zimbabwes land reform for its neighbors.
Seeing this, even though i was only 12 years old, i knew instantly that this was a serious issue. Conflicts arise from imbalances in communities, group organization or nations, for example, uneven distribution of. It has led to zimbabwe s economic and social collapse. Their argument is that it has been almost two decades since land was acquired and there is nothing to show for it. This has involved a detailed study of what happened. Political policy cycles of land reform andrew q philips. The development objective of the land reform support project for zimbabwe is to initiate on a pilot basis a couple of land reform approaches that show promise to reduce rural poverty and increase agricultural productivity in the participating farms. This article is a critical analysis of zimbabwes land reform that will enable academics and policy makers to be aware.
Fast track land reform programme which was kickstarted in the quest to redress the skewed land ownership patterns that characterised the colonial era. Rural zimbabwe empties as mugabe land reform policy unravels. Introduction conflicts are a fact of life and part of our everyday existence. 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. It discusses the impact of major policy shifts from the marketbased willing seller willing buyer principle to the fast track land reform programme on zimbabwes food security.
Introduction this report is an interim assessment by the united nations development programmeled mission to assess progress of land reform in zimbabwe requested by both the government of zimbabwe and a committee of. Land reform support project english the world bank. It begins with the premise that land policy, especially the fast track land reform. This policy allowed government to acquire, for compensation, land that it deemed. White land policy was the founding institution which defined the rationale for the entire system of government, politics and the socioeconomic sphere which placed whites in a dominant position. This reform has had major implications for zimbabwe and its lessons are relevant to many other countries where skewed land distributions persist. I remember one day when i was in 7 th grade when a fellow student came to class in a face drenched with tears.
Thousands lost their jobs and homes, food production nosedived, laws on property rights no longer seemed to apply and the economy spiralled out of control. Introduction this report is an interim assessment by the united nations development programmeled mission to assess progress of land reform in zimbabwe requested by both the government of zimbabwe and a committee of commonwealth foreign. 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. Summary the land reform programme in zimbabwe has been a major area of international discussion. Almost 40 years after independence, land reform remains at the heart of zimbabwes political and economic challenges. Disparity between policy design and implementation medicine masiiwa institute of development studies university of zimbabwe may 2004 note. South africa has just completed a land reform summit july 2005, and the process of land claims by black africans3 against white african commercial farmers has intensified. A quantitative analysis of zimbabwes land reform policy core. Zimbabwes land reform has been highly controversial. 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. This website presents material linked to an ongoing research project in masvingo province in the southeast of the country. 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. International conference on agrarian reform and rural development icarrd.
Restitution, where the government compensates individuals who had been forcefully removed, has been very unsuccessful and the policy has now shifted to redistribution with secure land tenure. University of the free state bloemfontein promoter. While land reform has long been the subject of policy debate, the motivation for. The land reform movements of the two societies are based on different but related realities.
United nations data shows the proportion of the population living in towns surged to about 32 percent in 2015, from 11 percent in 1950, a trend thats. Geza, the role of resettlement in social development in zimbabwe, journal of. An evaluation of the impact of the zimbabwe land reform. Ive never been to zimbabwe, so tend to get my messages from the news coverage. The literature on land in the 1980s is now quite extensive. Most of the countrys 4,000 white farmers then the backbone of the countrys agricultural economy were forced from their land, which was handed over to about a million black zimbabweans. Jan 28, 20 most generally, the corrosive effect of uncertaintyfrom both continued political tensions, as well as the broader policy environment and rules of the gameon investment activity has been a nontrivial reason why the effects of land reform may actually be more pervasive and persistent than just looking at the agricultural sector. 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. Penny, another farmer, was born into a farming family but says, like most black zimbabweans, it was too expensive for him to buy any land. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Land reform brings prosperity to black zimbabweans channel. Why zimbabwe land reform has failed zimbabwe today. This article is a critical analysis of zimbabwes land reform that will enable academics and policy makers to be aware of some mistakes, ambiguities and contradictions.
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