LAND REFORM PROGRAMME
Agrarian Reform
At independence, Zimbabwe inherited a racially skewed agricultural land ownership pattern where the white large-scale commercial farmers, consisting of less than 1% of the population occupied 45% of agricultural land. Seventy-five (75) percent of this is in the high rainfall areas of Zimbabwe, where the potential for agricultural production is high. Equally significantly, 60% of this large-scale commercial land was not merely under-utilised but wholly unutilised.
Agrarian reform in Zimbabwe therefore revolves around land reform where the systematic dispossession and alienation of the land, from the black indigenous people during the period of colonial rule, are adequately addressed. The Zimbabwean Agrarian Reform involves restructuring of access to land, and an overall transformation of the existing farming system, institutions and structures. It includes access to markets, credit, training and access to social, developmental and economic amenities. It seeks to enhance agricultural productivity, leading to industrial and economic empowerment and macro economic growth in the long term.
Background
The problem of inequitable distribution of land in Zimbabwe dates back to the early days of the colonial era as spelled out in the British South Africa Company Royal Charter of 1889. The legal consequence of the order in Council was entrenched in the sovereign and the property rights in the British Queen thus nullifying the former Zimbabwean traditional leadership. Large stretches of land became alienated and indigenous people settled in small pocket of marginal and fragile Communal Areas.
The Land Apportionment Act of 1930, which set aside 51% of land for a few thousand white settlers, prohibited the indigenous people from owning and occupying lands in white commercial farming areas. The African Purchase Areas were created between the Indigenous reserve areas and the Commercial white settlers' areas. The indigenous reserves became re-christianed as Tribal Trust Lands following the gazetting of the Act in 1965, whose title was later changed to communal area in terms of the Communal Lands Act of 1981. This situation therefore witnessed the creation of three separate categories of land classification in Zimbabwe namely the Communal Areas Small Scale Commercial and Large Scale Commercial Areas.
The Land Reform Programme started in 1980 with the objective of addressing the imbalances in land access ownership and use, which existed in Zimbabwe before independence.
ZIMBABWE: HISTORY OF LAND POLICY, 1891 - 1994 |
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| YEAR LAND ACT/ COMMISSION | PURPOSE | RESULT |
| 1889 The Lippert Concession | White settlers to acquire land rights from native Zimbabweans | BSACobuy concession and uses it as basis for land appropriation |
| 1898 Native Reserves Order in Council | To create Native Reserves in the face of mass land appropriation by white settlers | Native reserves created haphazardly in low potential areas and which subsequently become Communal Areas |
| 1898 Native Reserves Order in Council | To create Native Reserves in the face of mass land appropriation by white settlers | Native reserves created haphazardly in low potential areas and which subsequently become Communal Areas |
| 1930 Land Apportionment Act | To separate by law, land between black and white | The high potential areas become white large scale privately owned farms |
| 1951 Native Land Husbandry Act | To enforce private ownership of land, destockiing and conservation practices on Mass resistance to legislation fueling nationalistic politics. | Law scraped in 1961 black smallholders |
1965 Tribal Trust Lands (TTL) Act |
To change the name of Native Reserves and create trustees for the land | Because of population pressure TTL became degraded "homelands" |
| 1969 Land Tenure Act (LTA) | To replace LLA of 1930 and finally divide land 50% white and 50% black | Combined with TTL Act Rhodesia had equivalent of apartheid. |
| 1981 Communal Lands Act | To change Tribal Trust Lands to Communal Areas | Change of land authority from traditional leaders to District Councils. |
| 1985 Land Acquisition Act | To five Gorvmentment first right to purchase large scale farms for resettlement | Limited impact on resettlement programme. |
| 1990 Land Acquisition Act | To acquire 5 million ha of land for resettlement | Limited impact on resettlement programme. |
| 2000 Land Acquisition Act | To acquire 12 million ha of land for resettlement | Implementation underway
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Agrarian Reform
At independence, Zimbabwe inherited a racially skewed agricultural land ownership pattern where the white large-scale commercial farmers, consisting of less than 1% of the population occupied 45% of agricultural land. Seventy-five (75) percent of this is in the high rainfall areas of Zimbabwe, where the potential for agricultural production is high. Equally significantly, 60% of this large-scale commercial land was not merely under-utilised but wholly unutilised.
Agrarian reform in Zimbabwe therefore revolves around land reform where the systematic dispossession and alienation of the land from the black indigenous people during the period of colonial rule, are adequately addressed. The Zimbabwean Agrarian Reform involves restructuring of access to land, and an overall transformation of the existing farming system, institutions and structures. It includes access to markets, credit, training and access to social, developmental and economic amenities. It seeks to enhance agricultural productivity, leading to industrial and economic empowerment and macro economic growth in the long term. (more....)