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ABSTRACT
The question of land has both a particular historic significance and an enduring contemporary political importance in modern-day Zimbabwe. The unresolved issue of compensation for far-reaching land restitution also poses a continued impediment to any improvement in British–Zimbabwean relations. Given the impassioned accusations against the British government for its failure to fund a substantial land transfer scheme at independence, which gathered pace and vehemence in the late 1990s, this article offers new evidence of British officials’ deliberations on whether or not to implement a far-reaching land transfer scheme in 1979, repeating the approach towards another white settler colony, Kenya.
KEYWORDS:
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Tendi, “Making History in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.” Accessed 2 April 2015.
2 See Pilasoff, “Review Essay, Review Essay, Fantasy and Reality,” 146–52.
3 Onslow, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
4 See, for example, Bhebe and Ranger, The Historical Dimensions of Democracy; Godwin and Hancock, ‘Rhodesians Never Die’; Kriger, Zimbabwe’s Guerrilla War; Alexander, The Unsettled Land; Mlambo, ‘“Land Grab”’; Brian Raftopoulos, cited in Hammar, Raftopoulos, and Jensen, Zimbabwe’s Unfinished Business, 4; Bowyer-Bower and Stoneman, Land Reform in Zimbabwe; Hellum and Derman, “Land Reform and Human Rights”; Chung, Reliving the Second Chimurenga, 245.
5 Onslow, “Zimbabwe: Land and The Lancaster House Settlement,” 40–74.
6 ‘End of Empire’ by Brian Lapping and Norma Pearcy was a television documentary series produced by Granada TV in 1985. Transcripts of interviews with Zimbabwean nationalists are currently held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
7 This is because of difficulties in present-day Zimbabwe.
8 Cited in Riddell, “Zimbabwe’s Land Problem,” 1.
9 Ibid., 1.
10 Cohen, The Politics and Economics of Decolonization in Africa.
11 British Documents on the End of Empire, Series B, Vol. 9, Central Africa, ed. Philip Murphy, 419 CAB 21/5513, MISC51-1 Cabinet Committee on Southern Rhodesia minutes 25 March 1965.
12 British Documents on the End of Empire, Series B, Vol. 9, Central Africa, ed. Philip Murphy, PREM 11/5039, Mr Smith’s visit: minute by Mr Sandys to Sir A. Douglas Home on tactics, 4 Sept. 1964, 462.
13 The British government also made approaches to the EEC, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
14 Palmer, “Land Reform in Zimbabwe,” 166.
15 TNA, FCO 36/2031, Call on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Secretary of State by the Canadian Minister for External Affairs, Mr D. Jamieson, 1 July 1977.
16 TNA, FCO 36/2031, International Economic Support for a Rhodesian Settlement: A Proposal. Annex 1, The Zimbabwean Economy.
17 TNA FCO 36/2031, International Economic Support for a Rhodesian Settlement. Annex 2, The Zimbabwe Development Fund: Possible Programme Areas.
18 ZANU Rejects Some Uhuru Proposals, cited in Baumhögger, The Struggle for Zimbabwe, Vol. V, Doc. 878 d.
19 Robert Mugabe speech to the 5th Conference of the Pan-African Youth Movement in Brazzaville/Congo, 8 Aug. 1979, cited in Baumhögger, The Struggle for Zimbabwe, Vol. V, Doc. 882.
20 Renwick, Unconventional Diplomacy in Southern Africa, 41.
21 For a full list of British delegates at the Lancaster House conference, see http://sasspace.sas.ac.uk/5847/5/1979_Lancaster_House_Agreement.pdf.
22 Kandiah and Onslow, Britain and Zimbabwe.
23 Riddell, “Zimbabwe’s Land Problem,” 3.
24 An Analysis of the Illegal Regime’s Constitution for Zimbabwe Rhodesia Annex A to HGM (79) 10, Com.Sec Archives.
25 Tamarkin, The Making of Zimbabwe, 214.
26 The Commercial Farmers Union claimed in 1980 that ‘commercial farmers (nearly all of whom were white) were responsible for 85% of gross output expressed in dollar terms’. Godwin and Hancock, Rhodesians Never Die, 297. This financial argument was buttressed by assertions that theirs was a more productive and environmentally sensitive system of land husbandry compared with the Tribal Trust Lands.
27 Statements by Sir Silas Mundawarara (deputy prime minister of Zimbabwe/Rhodesia) in Salisbury, 22 Oct. 1979, quoted in Baumhögger, The Struggle for Zimbabwe, Vol. VI, Doc. 941; and Sue Onslow interview with Mr Derek Van Der Syde, 7 July 2009.
28 Hanlon, Majengwa, and Smart, Zimbabwe Takes Back its Land, 70. See Riddell, The Land Question, 10.
29 Riddell, “Zimbabwe’s Land Problem,” 5.
30 Taken from the Utete Commission (2003) report in Hanlon, Majengwa, and Smart, Zimbabwe Takes Back its Land, 40.
31 Hanlon, Majengwa, and Smart, Zimbabwe Takes Back its Land, 41.
32 Riddell, “Zimbabwe’s Land Problem,” 11.
33 Ibid., 11.
34 TNA PREM16/1548, KQF Manning, PS/Mr Luce to R. Renwick, Rhodesia Department, 1, 18 July 1979.
35 The two white settler communities also differed in their class composition. In the post-war era, Kenya had been colloquially known as ‘the Officers Mess’, while Rhodesia was referred to as ‘the NCO’s Mess’.
36 In terms of numbers, the Kenyan land reform programme post-independence saw 50,000 families receive new land. See Hanlon, Majengwa, and Smart, Zimbabwe Takes Back its Land, 3.
37 Carrington, The Times, 5 April 2003.
38 TNA FCO 36/2675, From FCO to Immediate Lusaka, Telno 832 of 11 Oct. 1979.
39 TNA FCO 36/2675, Barlow to Luce, 23 July 1979.
40 TNA FCO36/2675, Land Transfer: Kenya and Rhodesia, Lynch, ODA (undated), June 1977.
41 Robin Byatt, Witness Seminar, July 2005, quoted in Onslow, “Zimbabwe: Land and the Lancaster House Settlement”.
42 TNA FCO 36/2675, Lynch to Widdup, HM Treasury, 10 Oct. 1979.
43 Ibid.
44 TNA FCO 26/3675, Lynch to Widdup, 10 Oct. 1979, Annex.
45 TNA FCO 36/2431, Rhodesia: National Farmers Union to Miss Spencer, 27 Feb. 1979. Emphasis in the original document.
46 Ibid.
47 TNA FCO 36/2675, Restricted from Mirimba Salisbury to Priority FCO, Telno 776 of 19 Oct. 1979.
48 TNA FCO 36/2675, Rhodesia Constitutional Conference 11 Oct. 1979.
49 TNA FCO 36/2675, From FCO to Immediate Lusaka, Telno 832 of 11 Oct. 1979, and to all other FLS posts.
50 TNA FCO 36/2675, From Mirimba Salisbury to Flash FCO, Telno 769 of 18 Oct. 1979.
51 Ibid.
52 TNA FCO 36/2675, From FCO to Immediate Mirimba Salisbury, Telno 239 of 16 Oct.
53 Ibid.
54 TNA FCO 36/2675, From Mirimba Salisbury to Priority FCO, Telno 741 of 12 Oct. 1979.
55 TNA FCO 36/2675, Text of statement by Mr Byatt for publication in Rhodesian Herald on 19 Oct. (as amended in FCO and telephone to Mirimba).
56 Ibid.
57 TNA FCO 36/2675, Day to Renwick, 15 Oct. 1979.
58 TNA PREM 16/1548, Robson to Duff, Kenya: Land Settlement, 15 Oct. 1979.
59 TNA FCO 36/2675, From FCO to Immediate Dar es Salaam, Telno 336 of 16 Oct. 1979.
60 TNA FCO 36/2431, African Farmers Union to Mrs Margaret Thatcher, 7 Sept. 1979.
61 See Onslow, “Noises Off,” 489–506.
62 See The Daily Telegraph, 10 Oct. 1979. “South Africa issues ‘dark clouds’ warning”.
63 Ibid.
64 See The Margaret Thatcher Foundation, www.margaretthatcher.org, material on Rhodesia 1979.
65 Mushimbo “Land Reform in Post-Independence Zimbabwe,” 78.
66 Ibid.
67 Robert Mugabe in Charlton, The Last Colony in Africa, 80.
68 TNA FCO 106/117, Call by the Commonwealth Secretary General on Lord Carrington (after his press statement).
69 The head of the Central and Southern Africa Department expressly contacted Sir Bruce Greatbatch, who had been closely involved in the Kenyan land settlement plan.
70 Riddell, “Zimbabwe’s Land Problem,” 12.
71 Garfield Todd to Lord Carrington, 11 Oct. 1979, quoted in Riddell, “Zimbabwe’s Land Problem,” 12.
72 Mumbengegwi, “Continuity and Change,” 219.
73 The supposed lasting success of the post-colonial land reform programme in Kenya should not be overstated. Contestation over land between rival ethnic groups in the Rift Valley, itself a direct product of government policy post-independence, was an important contributory factor to the violence surrounding the Dec. 2007 elections. See Somerville, “British Media Coverage of the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, 2007–08”.
74 See Onslow, “The Man on the Spot,” 68–100.
75 Chief Emeka Anyaoku interview with Sue Onslow, 2 Oct. 2013. www.commonwealthoralhistories.org.