‘Rooted Back Home’: Exploring Linkages between Small-Scale Land Reform Beneficiaries and their Communal Areas of Origin in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article examines why land reform beneficiaries maintain linkages with their communal areas of origin two decades after Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform programme (FTLRP). This is done by investigating the extent to which and the ways in which beneficiaries of the FTLRP are connected to their communal areas of origin, as well as the implications of maintaining their belonging. Studies of the FTLRP have paid insufficient attention to the importance of understanding linkages with places of origin. Thus, using empirical qualitative insights from Zvimba district, Mashonaland West province, I argue that belonging, even in the case of land reform, links people despite their physical relocation. The findings illustrate that the need to belong makes people maintain their links with their place of origin. The article concludes that land reform programmes should consider social elements such as belonging which are embedded in the social fabric of people’s lives.

Keywords:

• belonging
• land reform
• A1 villagised settlements
• communal areas, Zimbabwe

Acknowledgements

The writing of this paper was funded by the A.C. Jordan Chair in African Studies at the Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town.

Notes

1 F. Anthias, ‘Belongings in a Globalising and Unequal World: Rethinking Translocations’, in N. Yuval-Davis, K. Kannabirãn and U. Vieten (eds), The Situated Politics of Belonging (London, Sage, 2006), pp. 17–31.

2 P. Geschiere, The Perils of Belonging: Autochthony, Citizenship, and Exclusion in Africa and Europe (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2009).

3 D.H. Potts, Circular Migration in Zimbabwe and Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa (Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer, 2010).

4 L. Malkki, ‘National Geographic: The Rooting of Peoples and the Territorialization of National Identity among Scholars and Refugees’, Cultural Anthropology, 7, 1 (1992), pp. 24–44.

5 A. Mafeje, The Agrarian Question, Access to Land, and Peasant Responses in Sub-Saharan Africa (Geneva, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 2003).

6 I. Scoones, N. Marongwe, B. Mavedzenge et al., Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: Myths and Realities (Woodbridge, James Currey, 2010).

7 B. Cousins and A. Claassens, ‘More than Simply “Socially Embedded”: Recognizing the Distinctiveness of African Land Rights’, keynote address at the international symposium ‘At the Frontier of Land Issues: Social Embeddedness of Rights and Public Policy’, Montpellier, 17–19 May 2006.

8 S. Moyo and P. Yeros, Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America (London, Zed Books, 2005).

9 T. Shonhe, I. Scoones and F. Murimbarimba, ‘Agricultural Commercialisation and Changing Labour Regimes in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 40, 1 (2022), pp. 78–96.

10 Moyo and Yeros, Reclaiming the Land.

11 Ibid.

12 Government of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme (Harare, Government Printers, 2001), p. 2.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid., p. 11.

15 B.H. Kinsey, ‘Forever Gained: Resettlement and Land Policy in the Context of National Development in Zimbabwe’, Africa, 52, 3 (1982), pp. 92–113.

16 Government of Zimbabwe, Communal Lands Act (Harare, Government Printers, 2002).

17 G.G. Paradza, ‘Single Women’s Experiences of Livelihood Conditions, HIV and AIDs in the Rural Areas of Zimbabwe’, in A. Niehof, G. Rugalema and S. Gillespie (eds), AIDS and Rural Livelihoods: Dynamics and Diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa (Abingdon, Routledge, 2010), p. 78.

18 S. Ncube, ‘Fast-Track Land Reform, Politics and Social Capital: The Case of Rouxdale Farm in Zimbabwe’, The Africa Governance Papers, 1, 1 (2021).

19 M.K. Marewo, S. Ncube and H. Chitonge, ‘Land Governance and Displacement in Zimbabwe: The Case of Chilonga Communal Area, Chiredzi District’, The Africa Governance Papers, 1, 1 (2021).

20 Ibid.

21 S. Moyo, W. Chambati, T. Murisa et al., Fast Track Land Reform Baseline Survey in Zimbabwe: Trends and Tendencies, 2005/2006 (Harare, African Institute for Agrarian Studies, 2009).

22 Scoones et al., Zimbabwe’s Land Reform.

23 W. Chambati, ‘Restructuring of Agrarian Labour Relations after Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 38, 5 (2011), pp. 1047–68.

24 G. Kanyenze, Beyond the Enclave: Towards a Pro-Poor and Inclusive Development Strategy for Zimbabwe (Oxford, African Books Collective, 2011), p. 105.

25 A. Goebel, ‘Zimbabwe’s “Fast Track” Land Reform: What about Women?’, Gender, Place & Culture, 12, 2 (2005), pp. 145–72.

26 Z.N. Vongai, ‘Families Divided: The Place of the Family and Women in Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme’, in 4th Global Academic Meeting, GAM 2015, 10–11 October 2015, Dubai, UAE, p. 18.

27 P.S. Nyambara, ‘Immigrants, “Traditional” Leaders and the Rhodesian State: The Power of “Communal” Land Tenure and the Politics of Land Acquisition in Gokwe, Zimbabwe, 1963–1979’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 27, 4 (2001), pp. 771–91.

28 Kinsey, ‘Forever Gained’; A. Barr, ‘Kinship, Familiarity, and Trust: An Experimental Investigation’, in J. Henrich et al. (eds), Foundations of Human Sociality: Economic Experiments and Ethnographic Evidence from Fifteen Small-Scale Societies (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 305–34; M. Dekker, ‘Risk, Resettlement and Relations: Social Security in Rural Zimbabwe’ (PhD thesis, University of Leiden, 2004).

29 T. Murisa, ‘An Analysis of Emerging Forms of Social Organisation and Agency in the Aftermath of “Fast Track” Land Reform in Zimbabwe’ (PhD thesis, Rhodes University, 2010); Scoones et al., Zimbabwe’s Land Reform.

30 T. Murisa, ‘Social Organisation in the Aftermath of “Fast Track”: An Analysis of Emerging Forms of Local Authority, Platforms of Mobilisation and Local Cooperation’, in S. Moyo and W. Chambati (eds), Land and Agrarian Reform in Zimbabwe: Beyond White Settler Capitalism (Dakar, African Institute for Agrarian Studies, 2013), pp. 251–90.

31 P.B. Matondi, Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform (London, Zed Books, 2012).

32 G. Mkodzongi, ‘Fast Tracking Land Reform and Rural Livelihoods in Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe: Opportunities and Constraints, 2000–2013’ (PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013).

33 Moyo et al., Fast Track Land Reform Baseline Survey in Zimbabwe.

34 Scoones et al., Zimbabwe’s Land Reform, p. 53.

35 Moyo et al., Fast Track Land Reform Baseline Survey in Zimbabwe, p. 21.

36 Ibid., p. 127.

37 Murisa, ‘Social Organisation in the Aftermath of “Fast Track”‘, p. 270.

38 S. Moyo, ‘Changing Agrarian Relations after Redistributive Land Reform in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 38, 5 (2011), pp. 939–66.

39 P. Shipton and M. Goheen, ‘Introduction: Understanding African Land-Holding: Power, Wealth, and Meaning’, Africa, 62, 3 (1992), pp. 307–25.

40 Anthias, ‘Belongings in a Globalising and Unequal World’, p. 19.

41 P. Geschiere and F. Nyamnjoh, ‘Capitalism and Autochthony: The Seesaw of Mobility and Belonging’, Public Culture, 12, 2 (2000), pp. 423–52.

42 J. Mujere, ‘Land, Graves and Belonging: Land Reform and the Politics of Belonging in Newly Resettled Farms in Gutu, 2000–2009’, Journal of Peasant Studies, 38, 5 (2011), p. 1126.

43 Anthias, ‘Belongings in a Globalising and Unequal World’.

44 M. Antonsich, ‘Searching for Belonging – An Analytical Framework’, Geography Compass, 4, 6 (2010), pp. 644–59.

45 Ibid.

46 A. Njwambe, M. Cocks and S. Vetter, ‘Ekhayeni: Rural–Urban Migration, Belonging and Landscapes of Home in South Africa’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 45, 2 (2019), pp. 413–31.

47 Geschiere and Nyamnjoh, ‘Capitalism and Autochthony’.

48 H. Chitonge, ‘Trails of Incomplete Decolonisation in Africa: The Land Question and Economic Structural Transformation’, African Study Monographs (Supplement), 57 (2018), pp. 21–43.

49 Shipton and Goheen, ‘Introduction’, p. 309.

50 P. Chabal, Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling (London, Zed Books, 2013), p. 47.

51 Nhimbe is when village members work co-operatively to address a household’s development needs, usually regarding food security.

52 Interview with Mr TS, Machiroli Farm, November 2017.

53 Interview with Mr ZK, Ward 21, January 2017.

54 Interview with Mrs PM, Ward 21, December 2017.

55 Geschiere and Nyamnjoh, ‘Capitalism and Autochthony’, pp. 434–8.

56 Geschiere, The Perils of Belonging, p. 55.

57 Totems serve as spiritual symbols or connections for related groups like clans or tribes, encompassing natural or mythical elements such as plants, animals, birds or insects. In communities like the Shona, they foster social bonds among members of the same totem, often implying mutual support during times of need. Despite lacking blood ties, individuals sharing the same totem in Shona societies are considered kin.

58 Interview with Mr BP, communal areas, September 2017.

59 L. Cliffe, Policy Options for Agrarian Reform: A Technical Appraisal (Harare, FAO, 1986).

60 Mkodzongi, ‘Fast Tracking Land Reform and Rural Livelihoods in Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe’.

61 Interview with Mrs LL, Ward 6, September 2017.

62 Interview with Mr BN, Ward 6, November 2017.

63 White garments churches are Zimbabwean churches whose religious dress code is white.

64 Interview with Mr T, Machiroli Farm, January 2018.

65 Interview with Mrs VV, Ward 21, May 2018.

66 Interview with Mr EM, Machiroli Farm, May 2018.

67 Antonsich, ‘Searching for Belonging’.

68 Interview with Mrs RR, Ward 21, December 2017.

69 Interview with Lands Officer, December 2018.

70 Interview with Mrs GG, Machiroli Farm, December 2017.

71 Interview with Mr ZG, Machiroli Farm, December 2017.

72 Interview with Mr HH, Machiroli Farm, December 2017.

73 Interview Mrs GD, Machiroli Farm, March 2019.

74 Interview with farm chairperson, Machiroli Farm, 18 September 2017.

75 Informal conversation, Machiroli Farm, 19 November 2017.

76 B.H. Kinsey, ‘Land Reform, Growth and Equity: Emerging Evidence from Zimbabwe’s Resettlement Programme’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 25, 2 (1999), p. 177.

77 J. Gugler, ‘The Son of the Hawk Does Not Remain Abroad: The Urban–Rural Connection in Africa’, African Studies Review, 45, 1 (2002), p. 21.

78 P. Geschiere, ‘Autochthony and Citizenship: New Modes in the Struggle over Belonging and Exclusion in Africa’, Forum for Development Studies, 32, 2 (2005), pp. 377–8.

79 Chabal, The Politics of Smiling and Suffering, p. 47.

80 S. Berry, No Condition is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1993).

81 P. Mutopo, Women, Mobility and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe: Experiences of Fast Track Land Reform (Leiden, Brill, 2014).

82 A. Mandondo and W. Kozanayi, ‘A Demand-Driven Model of Decentralised Land-Use Planning and Natural Resource Management: Experiences from the Chiredzi District of Zimbabwe’, Africa Development, 31, 2 (2006), pp. 103–22.

83 Potts, Circular Migration in Zimbabwe.

84 Mutopo, ‘Women, Mobility and Rural Livelihoods’; Murisa, ‘Emerging Forms of Social Organisation and Agency’; M.K. Chiweshe, ‘Farm Level Institutions in Emergent Communities in Post Fast Track Zimbabwe: Case of Mazowe District’ (PhD thesis, Rhodes University, 2012).

85 Antonsich, ‘Searching for Belonging’.

86 Geschiere and Nyamnjoh, ‘Capitalism and Autochthony’.

87 Cousins, Weiner and Amin, ‘Social Differentiation in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe’.

88 Antonsich, ‘Searching for Belonging’.

89 G. Mkodzongi, ‘“I Am a Paramount Chief, This Land Belongs to My Ancestors”: The Reconfiguration of Rural Authority after Zimbabwe’s Land Reforms’, Review of African Political Economy, 43, supp.1 (2016), pp. 99–114.

90 P. Ehrkamp, ‘Placing Identities: Transnational Practices and Local Attachments of Turkish Immigrants in Germany’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31, 2 (2005), pp. 345–64.

91 Mujere, ‘Land, Graves and Belonging’.

92 Matondi, Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Malvern Kudakwashe Marewo

Malvern Kudakwashe Marewo Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Centre for African Studies, Harry Oppenheimer Institute Building, Level 3, Engineering Mall Road, University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa. Email: [email protected]