Democracy and Land Reform in Zimbabwe
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IPA Workshop Report Democracy and Land Reform in Zimbabwe Executive Summary UN Millenium Plaza Hotel New York Some of the views expressed at the IPA meeting in New 25 February 2002 York on 25 February 2002 on “Democracy and Land Reform in Zimbabwe” included the following: International Peace Academy’s Africa ❏ Market-based land reform failed in Zimbabwe and Program gratefully acknowledges the support represents an obstacle to meaningful land redistribu- of the governments of Denmark, Germany, tion in both South Africa and Namibia. Ownership of the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom’s land in Zimbabwe remains a major source of conflict. New approaches are needed that can capitalize on the Department for International Development. opportunities of the market, while ensuring that the state is able to intervene in land and related markets ABOUT THE RAPPORTEURS to direct resources to the poor. Ms. Ruth Hall is a researcher in the Program for ❏ The violent methods being employed in Zimbabwe are Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the widely contested. But struggles over land in Southern University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa are not restricted to President Robert Mugabe’s Africa and is also a doctoral candidate at regime and are likely to continue unless or until St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. substantial redistribution of land to the poor and landless is achieved. Specific proposals towards a future land reform program in Zimbabwe included Ms. Aida Mengistu is a Program Officer in the the following: Africa Program of the International Peace • Land reforms need to form part of agrarian Academy. reforms that redistribute access to resources and opportunities other than land; TABLE OF CONTENTS • Building viable institutions is necessary, specifi- Executive Summary . .1 cally at the level of local government, to Introduction . .2 implement an effective land reform program; 1) Democracy and Land Reform in Zimbabwe . .3 • Targeting the poor through means-tested 2) Comparative Lessons from South Africa eligibility is crucial to the success of land reform; and Namibia . .5 • Alternative non-market measures by the state – 3) Regional Efforts at Resolving the such as land taxes, expropriation and the right of Zimbabwe Crisis . .7 first refusal in land sales – can assist in making 4) The Role of External Actors . .9 land available for redistribution; Postscript . .11 • Redistribution needs to be accompanied by Annex . .12 tenure reform in order to clarify, secure and upgrade existing tenure rights. It must be seen to benefit the needy and not primarily the regime’s supporters. ❏ The relationship between land reform and the rule of law is complex. The law has historically been used to dispossess black Zimbabweans of their land and to 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10 017 T E L [ 212]687-4300 FA X [ 212]983-8246 W E B w w w. i p a c a d e m y. o r g IPA Workshop Report perpetuate racially skewed ownership of land. The to address long-standing issues resulting from the constitution negotiated at Lancaster House in 1979 agreement at Lancaster House. Though it can play a remains, in the eyes of many, an obstacle to land diplomatic role in the crisis, it was widely felt that the reform. The recent farm invasions have overtaken Commonwealth lacks the tools and institutions to legal processes of land reform. However, given the deal effectively with Zimbabwe. It was suggested highly politicized nature of demands for land, instead that the United Nations should spearhead an racially skewed land ownership also undermines the international effort to resolve the problems of rule of law. Zimbabwe through the office of the Secretary- General, in partnership with SADC and based on the ❏ Responses to the crisis in Zimbabwe reflect the Abuja Agreement of September 2000. The UN system enduring tension between respect for national allows for the integration of a diplomatic response sovereignty and the use of international mechanisms with a longer-term engagement to promote land to promote human rights and good governance. In reform and economic reconstruction. order to be effective, punitive intervention by external actors must have widespread legitimacy Introduction and must be consistently applied through multilat- eral institutions. On 25 February 2002, the International Peace Academy hosted a policy forum in New York on the topic of ❏ The role of regional actors is central to resolving the democracy and land reform in Zimbabwe, chaired by situation in Zimbabwe. Thabo Mbeki’s “quiet Professor Ibrahim Gambari, UN Undersecretary-General diplomacy” has been criticized by many commenta- and Special Adviser on Africa to the UN Secretary- tors in the West and South Africa as a form of G e n e r a l .1 Discussions focused on recent events in appeasement. South Africa is expected to provide Zimbabwe, with particular emphasis on the role of regional leadership and there have been calls for internal, regional and external actors. The purpose of the Pretoria to impose punitive sanctions on Mugabe’s meeting was to assess the prospects for democracy and regime. Mbeki’s stance has been motivated by the land reform in Zimbabwe. The forum occurred about two need to act in concert with regional partners and the weeks before Zimbabwe’s presidential elections held on 9 concern that public criticism could reduce leverage to11 March 2002.2 over Mugabe, with the Southern African region suffering the consequences of further instability in Zimbabwe. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has not taken a firm stand against Mugabe, due to its leaders’ shared problems and a shared history of cooperation in the anti- colonial and anti-apartheid liberation struggles. Subregional institutions remain weak in Southern Africa; it is imperative for future stability that SADC’s conflict management capacity is strength- ened and that clear guidelines are established to respond to future subregional conflicts. ❏ Intervention by multilateral external actors is prefer- able to interventions by unilateral actors. The antagonistic relationship between Britain and Zimbabwe has been counterproductive and is seen by David M. Malone, President, International Peace Academy and many Africans as linked to the national interests of Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary General/Special Advisor the former colonial power and the long-term failure on Africa, United Nations 1 This meeting built on an IPA seminar on regional security in Southern Africa, held in Botswana in December 2000. A published report titled Southern Africa’s Evolving Security Architecture: Problems and Prospects is available at www.ipacademy.org. 2 The IPA meeting on Zimbabwe was initially planned for November 2001 but unfortunately had to be postponed due to scheduling difficulties. 2 Democracy and Land Reform in Zimbabwe An International Peace Academy Report IPA Workshop Report This report is organized in four parts. First, it provides a summary of the presentations and discussions on land reform in Zimbabwe, the relationship between land and democracy, and the roles of internal actors in the conflict. Second, the report provides comparative perspectives from South Africa and Namibia, examining lessons from these countries for Zimbabwe and the implications for Pretoria and Windhoek of the Zimbabwean crisis. Third, the report describes the roles of regional actors to date, specifically the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, in pursuing a regional solution to the problems of Zimbabwe. Fourth, the report highlights the ways in which external actors, such as the Commonwealth, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, have sought to intervene in the conflict and Ms. Margaret Dongo, Former Member of Parliament, Zimbabwe identifies appropriate ways in which they might assist in seeking solutions to the Zimbabwean crisis. sive start with the resettlement program in the few years 1) Democracy and Land Reform immediately after the political settlement at Lancaster House in 1979, the Zimbabwean government failed to in Zimbabwe prioritize land reform. Similarly, civil society in Zimbabwe paid insufficient attention to land issues, emphasizing Land reform is fundamental to both economic and civic rights over social and economic rights. political security in Zimbabwe. The significance of land lies both in its economic value and in its political Zimbabwe’s land reform was market-oriented from the importance as the resource over which struggles have start. The program was based on the sale of land between been waged in the colonial and independence eras. The willing buyers and willing sellers. The cost of land presentations and discussion focused on a series of purchases was to be met by the Zimbabwean and British themes relating to the nature of current struggles around governments in equal proportion. Approximately 3.5 land, their historical precursors, the pitfalls of the land million hectares were redistributed in this manner in the resettlement program, and the constrained parameters of first eighteen years of the program (1980-1998), with the the constitution imposed by external actors. UK’s contribution amounting to £33 million. The use of revenue from Zimbabwe’s limited tax base for the Zimbabwe’s land reform failed to achieve the far-reaching purchase of land has remained an important source of resettlement expected by much of the population. A contention in the country. Paying for underutilized land number of factors underlay this failure. The agreement is an alien concept in customary tenure regimes that are reached at the settlement of Lancaster House in 1979 was, familiar to most rural Zimbabweans, but it was also seen in the view of many, unworkable as it established an as unjust to use public money to buy land that was unfeasible system of market transfer and did not resolve considered to have been “stolen”. In this sense, the failure the nature of colonial responsibility. The acceptance of the to reconcile the interests of the state, the colonial power ma r k et-based model by the liberation movements was and landowners represents a failure of decolonization.