Land reform in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, the question of land distribution and redistribution (land reform) is perhaps the most crucial and the most bitterly contested political issue today. Do you think the land issue is the pinnacle of the problems Zimbabwe is facing today? Briefly here is the history of land reform in Zimbabwe since the last century from the history books of Zimbabwe. For more information regarding the subject. I have included links with detailed articles for reference to the issue under discussion from different perspective with the aim of getting far reaching and informed opinions on the land reform question. Post your comments here.

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The white farmer population first came to Southern Rhodesia in the 1890s. In 1918 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London issued a ruling that the land of Southern Rhodesia was owned by the Crown and not by the British South Africa Company, a ruling which led on to increase pressure within the colony for self-government.
After self-government was granted in 1923 the Southern Rhodesia House of Assembly decided to make a legal framework for the allocation of land. The Land Apportionment Act 1930, which was the basis for subsequent Acts and continued in effect until independence, allocated the land of the colony between areas where only Europeans could own property, areas which were held "in trust" for African tribes on a collective basis and areas where only Africans could own property. One practical effect of the apportionment was that some African families were ejected from land they had worked for generations. The anger this caused had a profound impact on the politics of Zimbabwe in the post Independence period.
The lack of individual title to areas in Tribal Trust Lands made it difficult to develop such land through soil improvement, grading, irrigation, drainage and roads. Few Africans had access to the capital funds necessary to buy large plots of land designated for sale to them in the Native Purchase areas. But white settlers were able to buy and develop large areas of farmland. The designated white areas tended to be in the uplands where the rainfall was higher and soil thinner - where large scale, mechanised farming was most economic. Government policy favoured the more lucrative white commercial farmers through support of training, direct grants, loan guarantee schemes and funding for agricultural research. Also, rural road building programmes favoured white farming areas.
In the 1950s the government of Garfield Todd did make some attempts to address problems of land tenure and development in the Tribal Trust Lands, but these attempts were never popular with the largely white electorate. Many members of the white community had supported the Unilateral Declaration of Independence regime of Ian Smith, which had taken over the government in the mid-1960s and broke with Britain over proposals for eventual democracy.
There was therefore a marked racial imbalance in the ownership and distribution of land. Zimbabwean whites, although making up less than 1% of the population, owned more than 70% of the arable land, comprising mainly the best. However, in many cases this land was more fertile because it was titled, resulting in incentives for commercial farmers to create reservoirs, irrigate, and otherwise tend the soil. Communal lands, with no property rights, were characterized by slash and burn agriculture, resulting in the tragedy of the commons. Since the implementation of the most recent land reforms of the 4,500 commercial farmers, only 300 remain on farms. The eviction of the mostly white farmers has been partly blamed by aid agencies and critics for Zimbabwe's worst famine in living memory.

Plot to destroy Zim economy

Here is a news item that I read in the Herald.co.zw of 21.06.07. what is your comment to this story. Is there substantiated evidence to this story or is the act of a government running scared. Is there an economy to talk about anywhere for it was long destroyed? My view is that there is no economy to destroy in Zimbabwe because economic principles have long ceased to functions. The citizens of this country are a major experiment of ideologies that do not seem to respect them as humans and have been laid out to dry from both ends of the worlds and we are surely counting body bags. I am eagerly waiting for responses from the people cited in this item to post here and many more around the globe and the implications of such innuendos with the assumption that the citizens are ambivalent about the quagmire they are treading.

Details of a major plot by the British and American governments to bring Zimbabwe’s economy down to its knees and incite an uprising against the Government emerged yesterday.The revelations explain why US Ambassador Mr Christopher Dell gloated on Monday that inflation would hit 1,5 million percent by the end of the year and that President Mugabe would soon be toppled.Chronicle can reveal that the British and United States governments, after failing to incite a public revolt against the Government of Zimbabwe, are now working overtime to destroy the economy, mutilate the Zimbabwe dollar, foment civil unrest and then dangle a US$3 billion "rescue package" to win the support of gullible politicians. The plan is to topple the Government before the March 2008 general elections, which the West knows the opposition could never win.A top-secret document outlining the grand plan says the Western governments have — through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — set up a vast network of regime-change agents, dubbed the Fishmongers Group, that will spearhead acts of economic sabotage against Zimbabwe.Mr Dell, who is leaving for a diplomatic posting in Afghanistan next month, openly boasted to journalists in Bulawayo on Monday that the inflation rate would reach 1,5 million percent by year-end. It has now emerged that his arrogant utterances, which even shocked opposition-aligned journalists, were made in the context of the Fishmongers Group plot.At last week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the World Bank’s chief economist, Mr John Page, made veiled references to this new phase of the anti-Zimbabwe campaign.Political analysts say the statements made at the WEF meeting by some Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans show that the Fishmongers Group has already bought the services of some leading Zimbabwean politicians, civil society activists, non-governmental organisations and donor agencies.Sources close to the goings-on said the recent substantial weakening of the Zimbabwe dollar on the black market — with the subsequent hike in prices of fuel, food and other essential commodities — pointed to the activities of foreign-sponsored agents.A key point made by the IMF as part of the Fishmongers plot is that the Zimbabwe dollar must be sent "into a free-fall for some time". This, the institution says, is "a big bang approach".It has also emerged that the British Department for International Development recently briefed a meeting of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and officials from governments active in "donor co-ordination" in Harare, including Sweden, the European Commission, Australia, the US, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Germany.The DFID has its own special document, entitled Zimbabwe — Economic Recovery, which smoothly dovetails with the Fishmongers plan.Interestingly, the top-secret Fishmongers report says the Western governments want to bring back the white commercial farmers who lost farms during the land reform programme. In a bid to buy the support of gullible politicians and reverse the land reform programme, the British and US governments are proposing to provide US$150 million in food aid in the first two years, including US$125 million in the first year, as well as US$500 million for "land reform" over five years. Foreign assistance of US$650 million is offered for the first year to support an economic reform programme that is part of a five-year US$3 billion package — which will be released "the day after" the Government is topple.The report talks of "donor-funded compensation for evicted farmers while the distribution of agricultural inputs and produce must be market-driven and involve the private sector’’ and also makes reference to a new land tenure to ensure the "multiracial farming community obtains access (to land) by means of long leases’’.The statement is a virtual call for the reverse of the land reform programme, which is at the centre of the bilateral dispute between Zimbabwe and erstwhile coloniser Britain.However, the catch is in the phrase contained in the Fishmongers report that the rescue package is "tied up with broader political questions around when Zimbabwe will transition to a rational, technocratic government’’.The architects of the plot hope that the economic suffering that Zimbabweans will face as a result of their actions will precipitate an uprising against Government.When he visited Bulawayo on Monday, Mr Dell was bubbling with confidence that the economy would collapse before the end of this year.Although he grudgingly admitted that the Anglo-Saxon regime change agenda had failed, he said inflation will hit 1,5 million percent this year, sweeping away the Government. "The spin will be too fast. No economic tool can stop it,’’ Mr Dell told reporters.However, he refused to explain further."What I can only say is watch this space,’’ he added, almost letting the cat out of the bag. The Government yesterday dismissed the new plot as an exercise in futility. "It is the reason why Dell spoke so eloquently about devaluation of our currency because they are throwing spanners into the works to spiral the inflation. They have also targeted manufacturing companies in their strategy because politically they have failed and Dell has admitted this himself," said the Minister of Information and Publicity, Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu."Their strategy is doomed to fail like all the others. Dell and his compatriots are failed prophets of doom and we say good luck to Dell as he goes to Afghanistan Hell for his new posting.’’In June 2004, Mr Dell, whose tour of duty in Zimbabwe ends next month, promised to "ratchet up pressure’’ to ensure regime change."Dell leaves Zimbabwe a disappointed man. For him Zimbabwe has turned out to be mission impossible,’’ said Dr Ndlovu.Dr Ndlovu said Britain, the US and other anti-Zimbabwe forces were shocked that the Zimbabwean economy had not capitulated despite the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and said the promised rescue package was a useless gimmick.He said only an "insane’’ person would be induced by the promised package to revolt against their own Government."It’s really a choice between re-colonisation and freedom. You understand that these people (Britain and other imperialists) do not want governments born out of a revolution in Southern Africa and Africa as a whole,’’ said Dr Ndlovu."As for the promised package, they gave money to the MDC but what has the MDC achieved?"There have also been suggestions that some members of the ruling Zanu-PF, who have always embraced the neo-liberal agenda, are in support of the strategy to bring the economy to its knees.One ruling party official reportedly told participants at the World Economic Forum last week that "change’’ was imminent in Zimbabwe."In any revolution there are sell-outs. So that won’t be surprising. However, you would expect that a member of a party would know what channels to use to air out their grievances if they do not see eye-to-eye with the leader of their party. But then you see that is the sort of democracy that we have in this country, that you can say what you want against Government outside the country and come back and still eat your lunch and supper nicely,’’ said Dr Ndlovu."As I said, even in the struggle there were sell-outs and some of the Selous Scouts were blacks.

Targeted sanctions: Who suffers?

I recently made my way to the capital of those who do not sleep (Harare). I met friends, relatives and strangers. I was expecting to find the country full of thin emaciated people because nearly anything you mention was either out of stock or too costly to be easily afforded. For me was a state of confusion because there were too many zerooooos and could not gauge whether thing were expensive or not. I am not used to speaking like a millionaire because I am not one, there are many here or are they pseudo millionaires. The image I got however is that the haves and the have nots gap has exponentially grown in the last ten year. in the street of Harare i was greeted with the latest and fashionable cars I could dream of, you name it. Even the hummer zoomed past near the waterhole i was patronising. These fuel guzzlers, i do not know how they run them in a country as dry of the precious liquid (fuel). On the other hand however, I had a lot of mouth to feed at this waterhole. I never ran out of "friends" that volunteered to get me one even before it was half way down. At first i thought they were going to buy me one but no i realised. i had to give them the money and pay by buying them one as well "Ndiitirewo one" is the language. I was the boss "Mhene" because I had a lot of "Chibhanzi" money. This is the group of people that go hungry and if lucky have a meal a day they go hungry. They are said to have air pie. I also watched the news on the only television channel, the so called "Chefs" politicians wore designer suits and looked obese both the pro government and the opposition alike.Going on to my roots to see my extended family i was greeted by youths that run along the side of the road trying to challenge passing vehicles with tattered clothes that left most of the body parts uncovered. My grannies were more interested in the cup of tea that they were going to have, assuming i had brought with me some sugar and that they were at least going to have bottled beer at the Growth point which are now dead points instead of the opaque beer they consume day in day out.On this journey, i found that the so called targeted sanctions were hurting the general people, the have nots. the people that have been vulnerable before and after independence. The poor are the ones that can no longer eat not the "Chefs". It is the number of street kids and man that is on the increase. Imagine eating from a bin or tip heaps (See Picture above). The sanctions only foster more dependency and destroy the self esteem of the people not the "Chefs". Do you think this is a correct view of the current targeted suctions. Let us hear from you, have you say by clicking on the comments button and publish your thoughts.