Land in Zimbabwe:
Past Mistakes, Future Prospects
Understanding the Economics
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Inflation: a general and progressive increase in prices; in inflation
everything gets more valuable except money. Inflation means that your
money won’t buy as much today as you could yesterday. A small amount
of inflation is generally viewed as having a positive effect on the
economy. One reason is that it is difficult to renegotiate some prices
downwards (i.e.wages), so that with generally increasing prices it is
easier for relative prices to adjust.
Hyperinflation: a condition in which prices increase rapidly as a currency
loses its value. The main cause of hyperinflation is a massive and rapid
increase in the amount of money produced, which is not supported by
growth in the output of goods and services. Zimbabwe HyperInflation:
32% in 1998, to an official estimated high of 11,200,000,000% in August
2008.
According to the IMF - civil service is bloated, others state that prices
have increased and wages have stayed stagnent, government spending
is out of control, mismanagement and corruption, loss of commercial
farming do to land issues, and President Mugabe blames foreign
governments, sanctions, and alleged sabotage
What decisions are our elected officials required to make?
Where does the government get money?
Where are dollars allocated?
What strategies does the government implement during times of economic slow downs?
During times of economic prosperity what does the government do with funds?
Education
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/international/2009/09/22/inside.africa.zim.education.bk.c.cnn.html
Infrastructure
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/feb/26/zimbabwe-cholera
Case: The Impact of Colonialism in Zimbabwe
“It was about land in the beginning; it was
about land during the struggle; it has
remained about land today. The land issue in
Rhodesia/Zimbabwe is not ancient history. It
is modern history.”
Sir Shridath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth 1975 – 1990
Definitions
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Commercial Farming: Farming for a profit, where food is produced by advanced
technological means for sale in the local, national and international market.
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Communal Farming: Areas where communal farmers reside and practice agriculture
for subsistence purposes. Sometimes they produce excess crops and livestock products
for sale.
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Royal Charter: Were used to create cities (ie, localities with recognised legal rights and
privileges). In England They were signed by the King/Queen.
Brief History of Region
• The Scramble for Africa, was a process of
invasion, attack, occupation and joining of
sovereign African territory to European
countries (1880s and 1914).
• The British South Africa Company (BSAC)
was created by Cecil Rhodes and
received a royal charter in 1889.
• Cecil John Rhodes was the founder of the
state of Rhodesia, which was named after
him. After independence, Rhodesia
became Northern and Southern Rhodesia,
later renamed Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• He was an English born businessman and
politician in South Africa. He was the
founder of the De Beers diamond
company
1853-1902
• An believer in colonialism
• The BSAC was empowered to
trade with African rulers; to
form banks; to own & distribute
land, and raise a police force
• In return, the BSAC agreed to
develop the territory; to respect
existing African laws; to allow
free trade within its territory
and to respect all religions.
• However, Rhodes and the
white settlers worked on
acquiring more mineral rights,
more land, establishing their
own governments, and
introducing laws with little
concern for African law.
Lancaster House Agreement
- The UK incorporated
Southern Rhodesia into the
British Empire from the
BSAC in 1923.
- The Lancaster House
agreement (Dec1979)
brought independence to
this region in April 1980.
Main issue at the
independance meetings
was land. Justice on LAND
was denied at Lancaster
House is felt strongly today,
both in Zimbabwe and
throughout southern Africa.
Lancaster House Agreements
Zimbabwa Beliefs
Recently there has been a growing belief among
Zimbabweans that the British and U.S. made promises
about land transfer which were later betrayed. These
promises included specific amounts to buy out white
Zimbabwean land-owners and set up black Zimbabweans
as farmers
Britain and American Beliefs
British and American versions of events maintain that no
promises were made other than to provide funding for
agricultural development and land reform. These, they say,
were fulfilled until Mugabe’s government began to pursue
land seizures without compensation. In response, Western
donors cut off aid for land reform.
Land Ownership Issue
• Zimbabwe is a geographically varied country divided
into 5 Natural Regions based on rainfall. Regions I
and II receive the most rainfall and are most suited
to specialised and intensive farming. By contrast in
regions III, IV and V rainfall is erratic and unreliable,
making dry land cultivation a risky venture, with an
average success rate of one good harvest in every
four to five years.
• At Independence virtually all of the farms in regions I
and II were owned by white commercial farmers,
while the majority of the communal lands were in
regions III, IV and V.
Land Regions In Zimbabwe
This is what the argument is over
• The white Rhodesians, owned 70% of the land while
making up less than 1% of the population.
• The Patriotic Front political party wanted the power to
redistribute land more equitably among the population
• A Land Resettlement Programme was established, with
Britain as the key donor. The land was acquired along the
‘willing buyer-willing seller’ terms agreed at LH.
• Between 1980-1985 the Land Resettlement Programme
was moderately successful. Land reform began to stall
after 1985 and Britain gave no money to the programme
after 1990. When the programme ended in 1996 71,000
families had been resettled.
Farm Seizures
• The average size of a commercial farm was 1,000 hectares, average
size of a communal farm was 10 hectares. Communal farm residents
did not hold title to the land, and thus could not use it as collateral for
bank loans for seed or equipment.
• By 1997 pressure in Zimbabwe began to build against President
Mugabe. The War Veteran Association demanded larger pensions and
then, in 2000, land. President Mugabe, unable to extract provisions from
Britain and desperate to remain in power allowed and even encouraged
farm seizures with no compensation.
• The list of 1,600 farms to be acquired grew to over 3,000, while
thousands of ZANU PF sponsored settlers began to occupy commercial
farms.
• Britian got involved and reiterated that funds for land reform would be
made available if conditions on transparency and respect for rule of law
were met.
Consequences of Policy
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4000 large scale commercial farmers, 80 per cent of whom had bough their farms after
independence in 1980 have been invaded and their owners forced off the land. Loss of
farming skills is the major consequence.
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Since 2000 overall agricultural production in volume terms had declined by about 50% by
2008.
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In July 2001 maize, maize products, wheat and wheat products were declared controlled
products (Fixed Pricing). Illegal to sell to anyone other than the Grain Marketing Board.
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By September 2006 state control had led to severe price distortions: the government
bought maize at a cost of Z$33,000 per tonne but sold it through the GMB at Z$6,000 per
tonne, representing a 98% subsidy.
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The decline in agricultural output has led to a food supply deficit that has in turn led to
increased dependence on food imports.
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In 2000 an estimated 320,000 farm workers, representing about 25% of Zimbabwe’s total
work force, were employed on commercial farms. The land seizures has meant that over
200,000 farm workers and their families – an estimated 1 million people – have lost their
livelihoods and their homes, as well as access to farm schools and other social amenities.
A Sign of Hope
The power sharing agreement (Feb 2009) in Zimbabwe between President
Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai has opened up a political space which
may lead to a more democratic and united Zimbabwe. The agreement includes
a request for external assistance with land reform.
Mugabee and the white African
Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_cXN04Jq1w&feature=related
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6AzDrTlB74&feature=related
Part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaX6lwZ-MMQ&feature=related
Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOQb2e8VrGk&feature=related
Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9TOXkc_z0U&feature=related
Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfXGRoWbRTE&feature=related
Part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7xIMJz-ALU&feature=related