Land and Agrarian Reform in ZimbabweSam Moyo, Walter Chambati The Fast Track Land Reform Programme implemented during the 2000s in Zimbabwe represents the only instance of radical redistributive land reforms since the end of the Cold War. It reversed the racially-skewed agrarian structure and discriminatory land tenures inherited from colonial rule. The land reform also radicalised the state towards a nationalist, introverted accumulation strategy, against a broad array of unilateral Western sanctions. Indeed, Zimbabwe's land reform, in its social and political dynamics, must be compared to the leading land reforms of the twentieth century, which include those of Mexico, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Cuba and Mozambique. The fact that the Zimbabwe case has not been recognised as vanguard nationalism has much to do with the 'intellectual structural adjustment' which has accompanied neoliberalism and a hostile media campaign. This has entailed dubious theories of ëneopatrimonialismí, which reduce African politics and the state to endemic ëcorruptioní, ëpatronageí, and ëtribalismí while overstating the virtues of neoliberal good governance. Under this racist repertoire, it has been impossible to see class politics, mass mobilisation and resistance, let alone believe that something progressive can occur in Africa. This book comes to a conclusion that the Zimbabwe land reform represents a new form of resistance with distinct and innovative characteristics when compared to other cases of radicalisation, reform and resistance. The process of reform and resistance has entailed the deliberate creation of a tri-modal agrarian structure to accommodate and balance the interests of various domestic classes, the progressive restructuring of labour relations and agrarian markets, the continuing pressures for radical reforms (through the indigenisation of mining and other sectors), and the rise of extensive, albeit relatively weak, producer cooperative structures. The book also highlights some of the resonances between the Zimbabwean land struggles and those on the continent, as well as in the South in general, arguing that there are some convergences and divergences worthy of intellectual attention. The book thus calls for greater endogenous empirical research which overcomes the pre-occupation with failed interpretations of the nature of the state and agency in Africa. |
Contents
1 | |
2 Land Reform and Redistribution in Zimbabwe Since 1980 | 29 |
The Politics of the War Veteran Vanguard | 79 |
A Microcosm of the National Land Occupation Movement | 123 |
5 Changing Agrarian Labour Relations after Land Reform in Zimbabwe | 157 |
6 Changing Agrarian Relations after Redistributive Land Reform in Zimbabwe | 195 |
An Analysis of Emerging Forms of Local Authority Platforms of Mobilisation and Local Cooperation | 251 |
8 Media Framing of Land Reform in Zimbabwe | 291 |
Radicalisation Reform and Resistance | 331 |
Back cover | 359 |
Other editions - View all
Land and Agrarian Reform in Zimbabwe: Beyond White-Settler Capitalism Sam Moyo,Walter Chambati Limited preview - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
A2 farmers Africa agrarian labour relations agrarian reform association Baseline Survey capital capitalist farms cent Chambati Chapter Chipinge Chiredzi colonial Communal Areas cropped customary areas Development District economic expropriation farm labour Fast Track Land former farm workers FTLRP Goromonzi groups Harare hectares Herald infrastructure inputs Interview Kwekwe District land allocations land and agrarian land beneficiaries Land Committee land issue land movement land occupations land redistribution Land Reform Programme land tenure landholdings landless leadership LSCF maize markets Mashonaland West Masuko Mazowe mobilisation Moyo and Yeros Murambatsvina Murisa neoliberal NGOs NMWVA official ofland ofthe Operation Murambatsvina organisation output peasants President Mugabe radicalisation redistributed land Reform in Zimbabwe rural Sadomba Scoones sector settler strategy struggles Track Land Reform University of Zimbabwe urban veterans wage labour Weaver Press white commercial farmers white farmers World Bank ZANU-PF Zimbabwe’s Zimbabwe’s land Zimbabwean Zvimba Zvimba District