Zimbabwe's Land Crisis

The press has been full of articles condemning the black squatters who are taking over white-owned farms in Zimbabwe. Each article details acts of violence--the killing of a white farmer or the beatings of black employees of white farmers. Usually the articles claim that the black squatters are members of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, and each article mentions that Mugabe has been in power since the country gained independence in 1980--in other words, he's a "president-for-life," a term reserved exclusively for African politicians. The inference is clear: Mugabe and his supporters are racists, and land reform always leads to violence and injustice. The reality, however, is more complicated.

The history of colonial Africa is not pretty. Whole tribes were nearly wiped out by a combination of displacement, slavery, and forced labor imposed by the white colonists. Genocide--a term that's thrown around quite loosely these days--accurately applies to white colonial policies throughout Africa: colonial governments purposefully decided to butcher whole ethnic groups of indigenous African people down to the last man, woman, and child. The enormous, white-owned plantations in Zimbabwe make up the best arable land in the nation; it was stolen from its original, indigenous inhabitants who were either forced to work for white farmers or driven into "reserves." These are facts that cannot be denied.

Recent history is also important. The war of independence in Zimbabwe (1965-80) was fought primarily for land reform. Upon independence, the new constitution specified that the government could not confiscate white-owned farms, but had to purchase the farms from those willing to sell. The British, the former colonial government, granted 44 million pounds sterling to Zimbabwe for the purchase of this land, but there were few willing to sell. Today, about 4,400 white farmers work over 70% of the arable land in Zimbabwe to grow mostly tobacco, while one million black farmers scrape out a miserable existence on dry, rocky soil.

In 1990, the provision to purchase land from willing sellers expired and the government passed a law allowing it to make compulsory purchases, but the process has been slow. The British have frozen payments to Zimbabwe for land repurchases, claiming that most of the land has gone to Mugabe's associates and that dividing the lands up into small plots would destroy Zimbabwe's agricultural export market. Three years ago Mugabe announced a list of 1,500 farms that would be bought without the owners' consent, but the pace has been slowed because of scarcity of funds. In addition, some of the farms were bought without exactly adhering to the legal process and some white owners have been able to sue in the courts and re-acquire their lands.

Last November a constitutional committee made up of ZANU-PF members and opposition parties wrote a draft of a new constitution. Opposition parties protested that the new draft gave the president more power, instead of less, as they had desired. A new coalition of opposition parties, which includes the white farmers union and urban trade unions, formed to oppose ZANU-PF in general elections scheduled for late June 2000, and they lobbied heavily against the new constitution. In February of this year, the constitution was put to a nationwide, general referendum and it was defeated 55% to 45%; this was widely viewed as a vote of no confidence in Mugabe. High inflation, a fuel crisis, Zimbabwe's involvement in the Congo War, and stories of corruption among top government officials helped to defeat the referendum.

The new constitution would have enshrined the government's ability to seize white-owned farms without compensation. Within a few days of the vote, a dozen white-owned farms had been occupied by poor, black farmers led by war veterans. The veterans have their own bone to pick with the opposition parties, who have defeated legislation for increased compensation for veterans. The veterans and squatters have received weapons and food from members of the military, with whom the veterans have close ties.

Mugabe supports the farm occupations, and this had made him more popular with rural blacks. The occupations, however, have caused a split in the ZANU-PF; some of Mugabe's senior ministers have condemned the occupations. The international response has been mixed. European nations and the international lending agencies have frozen funds and aid to Zimbabwe, while a number of black African leaders, including Thabo Mbeke of South Africa, have voiced support for the land occupations, although this support is growing thin as attacks against opposition party members have increased.

Land reform is a vital issue for poor, subsistence farmers in Zimbabwe and all over the world. The western press, however, has not covered the issue from the squatters' perspective. One thing is clear: the squatters feel that the war for independence is not over, and that it will never be finished without land reform.