A Right to Land?
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Aadfadffa rightdfdadfadf to land? Population density and land rights in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, 1923-2013 Jenny de Nobel UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN July 2016 A right to land? Population density and land rights in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, 1923-2013 A MASTER THESIS by Jenny de Nobel s1283545 Supervised by: prof. dr. Jan-Bart Gewald Second reader: dr. Marleen Dekker ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to prof. Bas van Bavel for introducing me to the academic study of long-term economic patterns. Discerning the drivers of change and essentially questioning how the foundations of societies lead to certain paths of development has inspired much of my work as a student of history. Prof. Nick Vink and prof. Ewout Frankema helped me channel this interest to an area that has been noticeably absent in the literature on questions of global development or the 'Great Divergence': Africa. I can only hope that this study can help fill that hiatus. My gratitude to dr. Cátia Antunes and prof. Robert Ross for sharing their thoughts with me and guiding me through the myriad of ideas that were once the momentum of this thesis. Many thanks to prof. Jan-Bart Gewald for his guidance, support and open-minded approach to my ideas, and dr. Dekker for her comments. Lastly, thanks to my friends and family who kept me going throughout this journey. Your support was invaluable, and this work would not be there without it. Two people, especially, made this possible, and how lucky I am that they are my parents: thank you for your endless faith. TABLE OF CONTENTS Glossary……………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………..…..…iii List of Maps, Graphs & Tables……………………………………….……………………………………………………….…...…iv List of Acronyms……………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………..v Table of Contents ......................................................................................... i 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 Theoretical framework ...................................................................................... 2 1.2 Thesis Question ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Thesis structure ................................................................................................. 7 1.4 A right to land? .................................................................................................. 7 1.5 Relevance ......................................................................................................... 10 2.The Incipient States ................................................................................ 12 2.1 Ecology ............................................................................................................. 12 2.2 Venturing north: pre-colonial Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi ...................... 13 2.2.1 The Portuguese, Livingstone and Rhodes .............................................................................. 14 2.2.2 Concessions and a Charter ........................................................................................................ 14 2.2.3 Conflicts over land ....................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.4 The First Chimurenga .................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.5 Creating Native Reserves .......................................................................................................... 18 2.2.6 A growing population, a growing problem? ........................................................................ 20 2.2.7 From London to Rhodesia ......................................................................................................... 21 2.3 Zambia ............................................................................................................ 22 2.4 Malawi ............................................................................................................. 24 2.5 Subconclusion ................................................................................................ 26 3. Zambia ................................................................................................... 27 3.1 Creating a nation for cultivation: 1924-1964 .................................................. 27 3.1.1. Native Trust Lands ......................................................................................................................... 31 3.1.2 Subconclusion ............................................................................................................................... 34 3.2 Independence and beyond: 1964-2013 ......................................................... 35 3.2.2 Petauke: access to land in a rural area .................................................................................. 37 3.2.3 African socialism and the Land Act ........................................................................................ 39 3.3 Subconclusion ................................................................................................ 46 4. Malawi .................................................................................................... 48 4.1. Special circumstances ................................................................................... 49 4.1.2 Migration ...................................................................................................... 49 4.1.3 Matrilineality and matrilocality ................................................................................................... 51 4.2 Land rights in colonial Malawi, 1923-1964 ..................................................... 51 4.2.1 Thangata ........................................................................................................................................ 52 4.2.2 Grievances and the non-disturbance clause ....................................................................... 53 4.2.3 Dual system of ownership ........................................................................................................ 55 4.2.4 Reorganisation schemes ........................................................................................................... 56 i 4.2.5 Towards independence ............................................................................................................. 57 4.2.6 Subconclusion ............................................................................................................................. 58 4.3 Land rights in postcolonial Malawi, 1964-2013 ............................................. 59 4.3.1 New laws, new economy? ......................................................................................................... 60 4.3.2 The revival of a dual system .................................................................................................... 62 4.3.3 Post-British, post-Banda: a new era? ..................................................................................... 63 4.3.4 A struggle for ownership ........................................................................................................... 64 4.4 Subconclusion ................................................................................................ 66 5. Zimbabwe .............................................................................................. 67 5.1 Land rights in colonial Zimbabwe: 1923-1980 ............................................... 67 5.1.1 The rise of a settler economy ..................................................................................................... 70 5.1.2 Between the acts: pressure on the land increases ............................................................ 72 5.1.3 The Native Land Husbandry Act ............................................................................................... 76 5.1.4 Political turmoil: unilateral independence and the Second Chimurenga ....................... 78 5.1.5 The colonial government’s last acts ........................................................................................ 84 5.1.6 Subconclusion ............................................................................................................................... 87 5.2. Land rights in postcolonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2013 ...................................... 87 5.2.1 New nation, new land rights? ................................................................................................... 88 5.2.2 From liberation to liberalisation .............................................................................................. 90 5.2.3 Amending the past, fast-tracking land reform ..................................................................... 92 5.3 Subconclusion ................................................................................................ 95 6.Conclusion ……………………………………………………….………………………………………….96 6.1 Comparing the cases: connections and distinctions ..................................... 96 6.1.2 Connecting the dots .................................................................................................................... 101 6.2 General conclusions ...................................................................................... 101 6.3 Suggestions for further research ................................................................. 103 Bibliography ............................................................................................