The African Land Issue: … the untold story The case of Zimbabwe and South Africa

1. The African Land Issue: …the untold storyThe case of Zimbabwe and South Africa African Axis Presentation Series 2 (September 2000) By Vincent Okele

2. Agenda • The Zimbabwe Land issue: Chronology • Background Information/ Pre-Independence / At Independence / Post-Independence • The South African Land issue: Chronology • Background Information/ Pre-Independence / At Independence / Post-Independence • Commonalities • Debate

3. Zimbabwe

4. Zimbabwe : Background Information Land use:arable land:7% permanent crops:0% permanent pastures:13% forests and woodland:23% other:57% • Area:• total: 390,580 sq km •land: 386,670 sq km water: 3,910 sq km) • Population: 11,163,160(July 1999 Est.) • Ethnic Groups: African 98% , White 1%, Mixed and Asian 1% • Arrival of the British : 1850 Rhodesia • War of Independence : 1963-1979 • Independence : 18 July 1980

5. Zimbabwe: Pre-Independence (1850-1890) 1850-1889: Scramble for land • Outcome : Explorers, colonists and missionaries grabbed land from the indigenous population 1889: The Lippert Concession • Purpose: Gave would-be settlers the right to acquire land rights from the indigenous people • Outcome: • The British South African Company bought concessions from the British Monarch • The revenue accrued was repatriated to the UK 1895: Great Zimbabwe becomes Rhodesia

6. Zimbabwe: Pre-Independence (1890-1980) 1898: The Native Reserves Order in Council • Purpose: Creation of the Native Reserves for blacks only. • Outcome: Blacks were herded in low rainfall areas. These areas were to become the present-day communal areas. 1898-1920: Continued Scramble for land • Outcome: • BSAC occupied Mashona and Matebele Land • The first national uprising (Chimurenga) in 1893 was crushed 1930:The Land Apportionment Act • Purpose: Formalise by law the separation of land between whites and blacks • Outcome: The fertile high rainfall areas became privately owned white farms 1965: The Tribal Trust Lands • Purpose: Change the name of the Native Reserves and create trustees for the land. • Outcome: High population densities on these lands made them degraded “homelands”.

7. Zimbabwe : At Independence (1980) Total land area: 96 million acres • Blacks (97% of the population): • 45 million acres (of low rainfall area) • Whites (3% of the population): • 51 million acres (of high rainfall fertile area) 3% of the population holding 53% of the land 1979: The Lancaster House Conference – (pre-independence conference) - • Purpose: To redress the obvious imbalance in land ownershipbetween blacks and whites • Outcome: Britain pledged to fund the resettlement programme under the willing seller, willing buyer and pound by Pound clauses. Acquired land was to be paid in foreign currency.

8. Zimbabwe : Post Independence (1980 – 2000) 1980:The Zimbabwe conference on Reconstruction and Development (ZIMCORD) • Purpose: Obtain money from international donors to pay for land that were owned by whites. • Outcome: Pledges that were made were not carried out. 1981: The Communal Land Act • Purpose and outcome: change the Tribal trust lands into communal areas and shifted land authority from traditional rulers to local authorities 1985: The Land Acquisition Act • Purpose: Give the government the first right to purchase excessland for redistribution to the landless, under the willing buyer, willing seller clause • Outcome: Government was powerless in the face of white opposition and the lack of money to compensate willing sellers 1990: End of the provisions of the Lancaster House Agreement Between 1980 and 1990 only 71,000 families out of 162,000 wereresettled.

9. Zimbabwe : Post Independence (1980 – 2000) cont’d 1992: The Land Acquisition Act II • Purpose: Speed up the land reform process by removing the “willing seller, willing buyerclause. • Outcome:Opposition by farmers increased between 1992 and 1997. Britain withdrew aid to the land reform programme. 1998: The Land Reform and Resettlement Conference • Purpose: Inform and involve the donor community in the land resettlement programme (48 countries attended). • Outcome: Program was not implemented essentially due to the fact that the money pledged by the donor community was not forthcoming. Compulsory acquisition of 800 farms announced

10. Zimbabwe : The Land Invasions February2000 : Referendum on new constitution • Purpose:To empower the government to acquire land compulsorily without compensation. • Outcome:The whites and human rights groups formed a united front (under the Movement forDemocratic change) to fight against the new constitution. The new constitution was rejected. Two weeks later, the pro-Mugabe War Veterans marched on the white-owned farmlands. Mid-February 2000: Britain kicks in • Focused on human rights, elections and the current economic difficulties of Zimbabwe • Organised the European union and other western allies to put pressure onMugabe Early April: • First casualty of the land occupations – a black policeman – butignored bythe British media. • One white farmer was killed and all hell broke loose

11. South Africa

12. South Africa: Background Information Land Use: arable land:10% permanent crops:1% permanent pastures:67% forests and woodland:7% other:15% • Area:• total: 1,219,912 sq km •land: 1,219,912 sq km water:0 sq km) • Popluation: 43,421,021 • Ethnic Groups: black 75.2%, white 13.6%, Colored 8.6%, Indian 2.6% • Arrival of the Dutch : 1652 (Cape Town established) • War of Independence : 1912-1994 • Independence : April 1994

13. South Africa: Pre-Independence 1652: Establishment of the “Dutch East India company ” in Cape town • Outcome:This company held monopoly over trade and everything else 1652-1832: Struggle between the British and Dutch (Boers) over land • Outcome: Indigenous population excluded from land acquisition through various legal tools. 1832-1837: The Great trek • Purpose: The Boers march inwards looking for new territory • Outcome: Land acquired by Boers through acts of conquest. 1899-1902: The Anglo-Boer War • Outcome: The Treaty of Vereeneging excluded African people from political participation

14. South Africa: Pre-Independence 1910: Formation of the Union of South Africa • Outcome: Birth of Apartheid 1912: Birth of the African National Congress 1913: Native lands Act • Purpose: Make more lands available to Europeans • Outcome: blacks were herded into “African reserves” and prevented from buying white-owned farms The ANC was created with the aim of preventing the Natives Land Act from passing through parliament 1923: The Black (Urban Areas) Act 21 • Purpose: To create separated areas for occupation by blacks in cities • Outcome: High density “ townships” created. The land belonged to the state. 1933: The Slums Act • Purpose and Outcome: Demolish multiracial areas and to segregate different race groups

15. South Africa : Pre-Independence 1936: The Development Trust and Land Act 18 • Purpose: Ensure more land for occupation by black people • Outcome: Enforced the segregation policies. Land was held as freehold title at the national level by the South African Development Trust 1950: The Group Areas Act • Purpose: Purge newly proclaimed white residential areas of all other race groups • Outcome: Further land expropriation April 1994: Nelson Mandela and the ANC take power At Independence: 20% of the population held 87% of the land

16. South Africa: Post-Independence November 1994: Restitution of Land Rights Act • Purpose: Repeal the discrimnatory legislation of the past • Outcome: The Land Claims Court and Commission were created Redistribution: • 700,000 ha transferred to approx. 55,000 households by end 1999 Restitution • 60,000 claims lodged by cut-off date March 1999 • 1,450 property claims (mostly urban) settled by March 2000

17. Zimbabwe and South Africa: Commonalities • State-supported or state-led dispossession of indigeneous people for the benefit of white farmers • All other land (even those reserved for blacks) was held by the state • White farmers received massive state subsidies in order to make a lengthy transition to modernized commercial farming. • Peasant farming was undermined by policies aimed at developing white agriculture. • Majority of rural population restricted to increasingly smaller native reserves • These reserves provided a source of cheap migrant labour for white-owned farms, mines and industries. • At independence, the status quo was legalized and to change it required the willing consent of the beneficiaries of past expropriation. • South Africa: 20% of the population held 87% of the land • Zimbabwe: 3% of the population held 53% of the land

18. Epilogue «   …..There is nothing new in the transformation of pirates into legitimate landholders, invoking the rule of law once they have established themselves in possession of whatever they have stolen. …It all depends upon when when history started, which such usurpers usually declare to be at atime that coincides with their taking of land that did not belong to them….. » Jeremy Seabrook (Third World Resurgence, May 2000)

19. Debate Your turn

20. Zimbabwe Land invasions: What is your view ? • Reversing Colonial history ? • Mugabe struggling to stay in power at any cost ? • A struggle for democracy and human rights ? • Disturbing his regional neighbours and being n° 1 liberator again? • Changing the rules of the game ? (willing consent of land grabbers) • Can the same happen in south Africa ?

21. Zimbabwe : Why did the Resettlement program grind to a halt since the 1980s ? • The role of the powerful CFU lobby – courting the Mugabe government and playing skilfully the divisions within the government • 1983 – Economic recession : the Zimbabwean domestic budget came under pressure, with the government being urged by the World bank, the British government and other western governments to tighten its budget deficit – aka the structural Adjustment program • 1985 – Severe drought served to reinforce the “hands off” policy towards the commercial farmers. . • Although the British government said it was prepared to put up money for the purchase of land, the conditions it laid down were very strict – detailed planning and surveying before resettlement could take place – Zimbabwe did not have sufficient surveyors to work at the levels necessitated by such restrictions. • Far too much money was spent buying the land rather than on the “follow-through” costs or resettling people. • Concern for continual flow of British and other Western bilateral aid

22. Zimbabwe and South Africa: Commonalities. Growing evidence that redistributive land reform can help in reducing poverty, increase efficiency and establish the basis for sustainable growth. Table: Comparison of household characteristics for resettled and communal households living in natural region 11 ( Zimbabwe) Source: Calculated from Kinsey et al…: Land Reform, growth and Equity, Journal of Southern African Studies, 1999