Three decades of land reform in Zimbabwe
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Perspectives of Social Justice and Poverty Alleviation
Zimbabwe 'land invasions' of the early 2000’s are what stand out in many people’s minds as the beginning of the country’s slide into what is generally understood as chaos. Drawn from a very narrow source, the story has been presented through the experiences of displaced white farmers, and some former farm workers facing the prospects of displacement. Whether it is realistic to imagine such views would be impartial let alone broadly representative is a question which has not animated much discussion.
The result has been a tendency to dismiss Zimbabwe’s land reform as a 'deviant' case and to disregard its transformative effects in terms of social justice, poverty alleviation and economic revival especially in the rural context.
On the other hand, well substantiated research emanating from a variety of sources presents important evidence of major popular struggles, a renewal of urban rural linkages, and the emergence of a diversified, commercially orientated rural economy led by the majoritarian small farm sector. This reality stands considerably at odds with the dominant story line.
The aim of this presentation will be to consider what is stake by looking at the issue of land, poverty factors which have shaped the key demands for land reform over time and locating what has been achieved against the wider discourses about poverty today.
Marie-France Baron Bonarjee is Research Associate at the African Institute of Agrarian Studies (AIAS) in Harare, Zimbabwe.
