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Land possession has been a major area of dispute for
whites and blacks in Zimbabwe for decades. In 1965, upon independence
from Britain, white Rhodesians seized control of the majority of
fertile land within the country and forced blacks to use the poorer,
arid, and unproductive ground. After minority rule ended in 1980
through the election of
President Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the implementation of the
Lancaster House
Agreement, white landowners were granted ten years of protection
from land distribution policies and reform. In addition, this
agreement provided that land would not be seized without compensation.
In 1990, after the government was no longer constrained by provisions
of the Lancaster Agreement, the
Constitution
was amended in order to provide for the redistribution of land within
the country. Throughout this time, various amendments have been
instituted in order to provide for an adequate redistribution of the
land, while allowing for the fair compensation of landowners. In
addition, various governments, including Britain, have provided land
assistance grants in order to facilitate the process of land
redistribution and compensation. By 1997, however, much of the more
fertile land remained under control of a few thousand white farmers.
Moreover, much of the land that had been distributed, remained in the
hands of the black elites, and was not accessible for lower-class
Zimbabweans. Throughout this period, the population of lower-class
laborers within the "tribal reserves", increased. In 1998,
international donor governments that had contributed to financing land
reforms, held a conference on increased government enforced
acquisition of land. These governments adopted a set of principles in
order to guide
"Phase II" of land reform in Zimbabwe. These principles included
respect for the legal process, transparency, poverty reduction,
consistency and ensuring affordability for acquisition and allocation
of land grants. Subsequent to these proceedings, however, the
relationship between the Zimbabwean government and donor governments
faced instability, and Zimbabwe accused these governments of
attempting to maintain the colonial distribution of wealth.
Over the last five years, there has been increasing political and
social tension in Zimbabwe over land-distribution and compensation. In
July 2000, President Mugabe stated that he would adopt a
"fast-tracts" land reform process in Zimbabwe where a national
committee, the
National Land Identification Committee, would identify tracks of
land for redistribution. This fast-tracts model consists of two
approaches: model A1, to benefit 160,000 of the poor from the general
landless population; and model A2 aimed at creating 51,000 black
commercial farmers. This process, however, has been noted as an
inefficient and inconsistent method of allocating land. Moreover,
there were increasing concerns that these methods were not monitored
by the judicial system.
In December 2000, the
Commercial Farmer’s Union (CFU) filed a suit in the Zimbabwe
Supreme Court, challenging the legality of the current fast track land
reform system. The CFU was successful in obtaining an order from the
Court, barring land distribution under the fast-track method because
the method was held to be unconstitutional. This interdict was
overturned one year later after the government allegedly reformed its
policies and procedures. During November 2001, CFU created the
Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative (ZJRI) and proposed
redistribution of land with assistance for newly resettled farmers.
Since then, there have been reports that the fast-track land measures
continue, and that the overall level of distribution and compensation
remains ineffective. |
