Land and Agrarian Transformation in Zimbabwe

Grasian Mkodzongi

Description

An exploration of the outcomes of Zimbabwe’s fast track land reform implemented in 2000

This book examines the dynamics underpinning the implementation of Zimbabwe’s fast track land reforms. By utilising ethnographic data gathered in central Zimbabwe, the book goes beyond the polarised debates which dominated scholarship in the earlier period to highlight the changing livelihoods occasioned by the land reform. The book argues that despite the challenges faced by the newly resettled farmers, the land reform has allowed landless and land-short peasants access to land and other natural resources which were previously enclosed to them under a bi-modal agrarian structure inherited from colonialism.

Abbreviations; Chapter One: Introduction: An Overview of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Program, 2000–2020; Chapter Two: Reclaiming the land in Mhondoro Ngezi; Chapter Three: Land beneficiaries and their origins; Chapter Four: Governing the land after the land reform; Chapter six: ‘Turning Strangers into Neighbours’: Social organisation and agency after the land reforms; Chapter Seven: Conclusions; Bibliography; Archival files; Newspaper articles; List of interviews; List of meetings; Index.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Rural
• Sociology
• Rural area
• Types of rural communities
• Social sciences
• Anthropology
• Campagne

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 05 juin 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785274176
• Langue: English

Extrait

Land and Agrarian Transformation in Zimbabwe
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Land and Agrarian Transformation in Zimbabwe
Rethinking Rural Livelihoods in the Aftermath of the Land Reforms
Grasian Mkodzongi
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2020
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
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Copyright © Grasian Mkodzongi 2020
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936289
ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-415-2 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78527-415-5 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an e-book.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction: An Overview of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Program, 2000–20
Introduction
Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Program: An Overview
Peasants, Redistributive Land Reform and Rural Livelihoods
Data Gathering in Mhondoro Ngezi
Structure of the Book
2. Reclaiming the Land in Mhondoro Ngezi
Historical Background to the Damvuri Conservancy
Land Occupations and Their Dynamics in Mhondoro Ngezi
Farm Workers and Land Occupations in Mhondoro Ngezi
Conclusion
3. Land Beneficiaries and Their Origins
Former Mhondoro Ngezi CA Residents
Gokwe and Sanyati ‘Returnees’
Farm Workers, Urbanites and Mine Workers
Were the Beneficiaries ZANU PF Supporters?
‘Every Day Forms of Resistance’ after the Land Reform
Conclusion
4. Governing the Land after the Land Reform
Land Occupations and the Transformation of Rural Authority
The Role of ZANU PF in Local Governance
The Dynamics of Customary Authority after the Land Reform
Conclusion
5. New People, New Land and New Livelihoods: An Analysis of Livelihood Trajectories after Fast Track Land Reform
Utilizing the Land
Hurudza (Rich Peasants)
Worker-Peasants
Rural Proletariat
Straddling Livelihoods after Land Reform
Natural Resource Extraction and Trade
Cross-Border Trade
Mining
Conclusion
6. ‘Turning Strangers into Neighbours’: Social Organization and Agency after the Land Reforms
New People, New Challenges
Social Organization after the Land Reforms
New People, New Social Networks and Institutions
Damvuri Development Committee
Churches
Political Parties and Local State Structures
HIV/AIDS Support Groups
Burial Societies
Farmer Cooperatives
The Mhondoro Ngezi Community Share-Ownership Trust
Conclusion
7. Conclusions
Bibliography
Archival Files
Newspaper Articles
List of Interviews
List of Meetings
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the involvement of a large number of people whom I cannot all mention by name. My colleagues at the University of Edinburgh were instrumental in the early stages of my doctoral research; Professor Alan Barnard, Dr Sara Dorman, Dr Joost Fontein, Dr Maggie Dwyer, Dr Joseph Mujere and others contributed to my thinking. Other colleagues such as Ian Scoones, whose work on the dynamics of livelihoods after Zimbabwe’s land reforms influenced my thinking during the early stages of my research, also deserve special mention.
In Zimbabwe, Dr Ibbo Mandaza at SAPES Trust contributed to my research by allowing me to use their library facilities during fieldwork in the country. I am highly honoured to have been mentored by the late Professor Sam Moyo of the African Institute for Agrarian Studies (AIAS) who fundamentally shaped my thinking on the agrarian question in Zimbabwe. His influence continues to inspire and influence my thinking with regards to issues of agrarian transformation in Africa. Other colleagues at AIAS such as Ndabayezinhe Nyoni contributed significantly to my thinking during the formative years of my PhD research. My fieldwork assistants, Simbarashe and Tichaona Mhuriro, played an important role during the data gathering process; their support is highly appreciated.
Last, my wife Rumbi Mkodzongi and my children Yotanka, Tatanka, Ntombifuti and Prince John have significantly contributed to my work by allowing me to temporarily abandon them in pursuit of my writing.
ABBREVIATIONS AGRITEX Agricultural Technical and Extension Services AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome AREX Agricultural Rural Extension Services ART Anti-Retroviral Treatment CA Communal Areas DA District Administrator DCC District Coordinating Committees DDC Damvuri Development Association DLC District Lands Committee FTLRP Fast Track Land Reform Program GNU Government of National Unity GoZ Government of Zimbabwe HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus LSCF Large-Scale Commercial Farms MDC Movement for Democratic Change MLRR Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement MP Member of Parliament NGO Non-Governmental Organization NRAs Newly Resettled Areas RDC Rural District Council VIDCO Village Development Committee WADCO Ward Development Committee ZANU-PF Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front ZFU Zimbabwe Farmers Union ZIMPLATS Zimbabwe Platinum Mines ZNLWA Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association
Chapter 1
Introduction: An Overview of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Program, 2000–20
Introduction
This book explores the outcomes of Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) which commenced in 2000. It pays particular attention to the changing dynamics of rural livelihoods occasioned by the land reform. The book is a result of a doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Edinburgh in 2013 and follow-up fieldwork as part of ongoing research on the interface of land and agrarian reform, extractives and rural livelihoods in Mhondoro Ngezi in central Zimbabwe. Since 2010 when fieldwork for the data utilized in this book was undertaken, there have been many developments in Zimbabwe which need to be captured in order to provide a more recent picture of the outcomes of Zimbabwe’s FTLRP. A major development which took place recently was the ouster of Zimbabwe’s late former president, Robert Mugabe, by a military-assisted coup in late 2017. While his removal was celebrated by the majority of Zimbabweans, such celebrations seem to have been ‘too early’ as the economic situation has worsened under the leadership of Emmerson Mnangagwa. The situation is characterized by the widespread shortage of fuel and frequent electricity outages which have crippled industry, leading many people to question the leadership of Emmerson Mnangagwa and his so-called new dispensation.
The dramatic removal of Robert Mugabe has ushered in a new trajectory in the politics of land. Zimbabwe’s newly elected president, Mnangagwa, has sought to distance himself from Mugabe’s radical policies in favour of appeasing Western countries which had imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in response to the seizure and redistribution of white-owned farmlands. Since assuming power after the harmonized elections of July 2018, Mnangagwa has reversed many Mugabe-era policies such as the indigenization and local empowerment regulations which, among other things,