An Agrarian History of the Mwenezi District, Zimbabwe, 1980-2004

AN AGRARIAN HISTORY OF THE MWENEZI DISTRICT, ZIMBABWE, 1980-2004 KUDAKWASHE MANGANGA A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF M.PHIL IN LAND AND AGRARIAN STUDIES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE November 2007 DR. ALLISON GOEBEL (QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY, CANADA) DR. FRANK MATOSE (PLAAS, UWC) ii ABSTRACT An Agrarian History of the Mwenezi District, Zimbabwe, 1980-2004 Kudakwashe Manganga M. PHIL Thesis, Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies, Department of Government, University of the Western Cape. The thesis examines continuity and change in the agrarian history of the Mwenezi district, southern Zimbabwe since 1980. It analyses agrarian reforms, agrarian practices and development initiatives in the district and situates them in the localised livelihood strategies of different people within Dinhe Communal Area and Mangondi Resettlement Area in lieu of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) since 2000. The thesis also examines the livelihood opportunities and challenges presented by the FTLRP to the inhabitants of Mwenezi. Land reform can be an opportunity that can help communities in drought prone districts like Mwenezi to attain food security and reduce dependence on food handouts from donor agencies and the government. The land reform presented the new farmers with multiple land use patterns and livelihood opportunities. In addition, the thesis locates the current programme in the context of previous post-colonial agrarian reforms in Mwenezi. It also emphasizes the importance of diversifying rural livelihood portfolios and argues for the establishment of smallholder irrigation schemes in Mwenezi using water from the Manyuchi dam, the fourth largest dam in Zimbabwe. The thesis calls for the need to consider other forms of land use like tourism, fishing and game hunting as well as the reliance on local resources and local knowledge systems. The thesis contributes to the growing body of empirical studies on the impact of Zimbabwe’s ongoing land reform programme and to debates and discourses on agrarian reform Key Words: Zimbabwe, Mwenezi, Agrarian History, Agrarian Reform, Land Reform, Land Tenure, Sustainable Development, environment, Gender, Livelihoods iii DECLARATION I declare that An Agrarian History of the Mwenezi District, 1980-2004 is my own work, that it has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in any other university, and that all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged as complete references. Kudakwashe Manganga November 2007 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been feasible without the financial support I received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. To them I extend my sincere gratitude. The constructive criticisms and comments from my supervisors, Dr. Allison Goebel and Dr. Frank Matose were invaluable. I am however, wholly liable for any errors contained herein. The inspiration that I got from my former mentor, Prof. Brian Raftopoulos, can also not go without mention. Many thanks go to the staff at PLAAS, notably Dr. Edward Lahiff, who made my brief stay at PLAAS in 2004 fruitful and enjoyable. At the University of Zimbabwe (History Department) I would like to thank Joseph Mujere, who helped with the fieldwork. In addition, I thank all my interviewees in Mwenezi who spared their valuable time to share with me their agrarian stories, land reform and development priorities. Lastly, I extend many thanks to my family for their moral support. v CONTENTS Title Page i Abstract and Key Words ii Declaration iii Acknowledgements iv Contents v CHAPTER 1 – Introduction Overview 1 The Regional Context 3 The Zimbabwean Context, 1980-2000 5 Study Aims and Objectives 13 Rationale 14 Thesis Overview 14 CHAPTER 2- Literature Review Introduction 17 Land and Agrarian Reform 17 Gender and Land reform 26 Conclusion 27 CHAPTER 3- Conceptual issues around the Study and Methodology Introduction 29 Land and agrarian reform 29 Livelihoods 47 Sustainable development 50 Research Methodology 57 vi Ethical Considerations 63 Conclusion 64 CHAPTER 4-Overview of the Case Study Area Introduction 65 Geographical Location 65 Agro-ecological Conditions 68 Ethnic Composition 72 Demography and Literacy 75 Land reform in Mwenezi: An overview 77 Poverty, Livelihoods and Agricultural Production 78 Conclusion 79 CHAPTER 5- Land Reform and Development Initiatives in Mwenezi, 1980-2004 Introduction 81 Pre-1980 to the early 1980s 81 The Mwenezi Radical Land Reform Programme 87 The Manyuchi Dam Project 91 The Mwenezi Palm Oil Project 95 The Nuanetsi Irrigation Project 97 Land Reform in Mwenezi, 1980s-2004 103 Conclusion 105 CHAPTER 6- Study Findings and Discussion Introduction 106 The Environment 106 New Livelihoods Opportunities and Challenges 129 Gender 150 Security of Tenure 157 Land Reform and Social Differentiation 159 vii Conclusion 168 CHAPTER 7- Conclusion Land Reform and Zimbabwe’s Current Crises 170 Land Reform and Equity 174 Environmental Sustainability 178 Livelihoods 179 Food Security and Self-reliance 182 Smallholder Irrigation Schemes 185 BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources a). Archival Sources (National Archives of Zimbabwe) 188 b). Newspapers and Magazines 188 Secondary Sources (Published and unpublished) 189 LIST OF FIGURES Map showing the country’s districts 66 Sketch Map of the Mwenezi District 67 LIST OF TABLES The number of animals at Kleibegin Ranch 121 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Overview This study focuses on the agrarian history of the Mwenezi district of the Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. It explores histories of agrarian change, land reform and the socio-economic impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) on the inhabitants of Mwenezi. Agrarian reform is an amalgam, which encompasses land resettlement or redistribution, land consolidation, land tenure reform and other changes in land use patterns. Unresolved land problems inherited from the colonial past are part of the colonial baggage that the post colonial state in Africa, Asia and Latin America has been trying to unload. The colonial encounter and land expropriation, in Zimbabwe, by European settlers from the autochthons engendered marked inequalities with regard to access to, and ownership of, land on the basis of race. Consequently, at independence, in 1980, and even after, a greater part of the country’s fertile land was in the hands of a few white commercial farmers. The need to address such imbalances and skewed land ownership patterns by the postcolonial state cannot be overemphasized. Land and agrarian reform can help address socio-economic inequalities, eradicate poverty and can be argued to be part of the democratisation process that a number of developing countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Mexico and Venezuela are going through (Moyo 2001). Land reform and agriculture can be the basis for social transformation and democratisation, food 1 security, income generation, the provision of gainful employment and the improvement of the quality of life of rural communities. It has also been observed that “greater equality in access to land ownership would increase economic growth and reduce poverty, while minimising the risk of a future land crisis” (International Crisis Group (ICG), 2004: vi). Land reform is a highly complex and contested terrain. It is a debatable and contentious issue in development, political, economic, social and academic discourses. Rukuni and Jensen (2003:253) note that land reform “encompasses any change that redistributes land”. They further assert that “because land is a finite resource and its ownership is generally symbolic of wealth, social status and political power, all forms of land reform are political in nature” (Rukuni and Jensen, 2003:253). Land reform often involves a restructuring of wealth, income, social status and prestige (Rukuni and Jensen, 2003:254), which are essential components of politics. In addition, land reform can be ‘revolutionary’ as it involves the transfer of power from one societal group to another. It is this dimension that makes it problematic and controversial if it is not done in a transparent, programmed, systematic and equitable manner. Land tenure reform is an integral part of land reform (Breytenbach 2004; Byres 2004). In essence, it entails the rules that govern land and land related property rights (Rukuni and Jensen, 2003:254). For land reform to be successful there is need for security of tenure. Security of tenure encourages farmers to invest in their land and this can result in increased agricultural productivity. 2 The Regional Context Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe share similar land problems as colonialism and apartheid engendered skewed land ownership patterns. These countries share histories of race-based colonial land dispossession (Goebel 2005). However, the dimensions of the land problems are country specific (Greenberg 2004). According to Marongwe (2004: 18), southern Africa’s land debate is informed by the colonial land expropriation experiences, the nature of the decolonisation process and land reform experiences of individual countries in the post-independence period. Overall, the land problems in southern Africa are characterised by imbalances in the patterns of land ownership in countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia; while in Botswana, Malawi and Zambia the debate is more about tenure rights and land utilisation (Marongwe 2004; Moyo 2000). In Botswana, land rights of the minority ‘Baswara’ (San)

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