The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Political Economy of Land Acquisition and Redistribution in Zimbabwe, 1990-1999
Abstract
This article analyses the socio-economic and political implications of land acquisition in Zimbabwe in the 1990s generally, and particularly in 1997 when the government identified 1,471 farms for potential acquisition and redistribution to black smallholder farmers. The efforts to acquire land for redistribution occurred in the context of growing research interest in comparing land reform across southern Africa, despite the different historical experiences. The Zimbabwean case has been cast as an attempt to pursue a radical state-led approach to land redistribution through compulsory land acquisition, or as a failed bureaucratic and 'non-transparent' effort. In contrast, the South African experience came to be held up as a more democratic, transparent, community driven and less costly 'market assisted' approach. Stereotypes in the literature on land reform in southern Africa influence the process of resolving the land question. While the dominant trend seems to be an acceptance of market prescription from the donor community, the Zimbabwean state, in particular, has intervened in the so-called land market in a more radical way. Attempts to acquire land in 1997, six years after the formal adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme, led the international community to believe that land reform was being used as a strategy to bolster an 'unpopular' regime. The overall conclusion of the article is that the dominant fear that state-led land reform will bring economic collapse is unfounded, given the social and political implications of a failure to address the land question.
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In the citing paper
“This reflects a simmering ethnicised intra-class competition for land, replicating incipient tendencies in the 1990s (Moyo 1995(Moyo , 1999)).”
From Three decades of agrarian reform in Zimbabwe (2011) · cites this paper as Moyo 1999
In the citing paper
“A number of authors, however, have argued that the most important reason for the slackening pace of land transfers was a lack of faith in the production capacity of small-scale farmers, and a desire to assuage the worries of international and local investors (Moyo, 2000;Scoones et al., 2010).”
From Land Reform in Southern Africa: Myths, Visions and the Harsh Realities of Development and Justice: Review Essay: Land Reform in Southern Africa (2011) · cites this paper as Moyo, 2000
In the citing paper
“And though presently President Mugabe claims otherwise, it also firmly underpinned pre-2000 land redistribution policies in Zimbabwe (Hughes, 2006;Moyo, 2000).”
From Land Reform in Southern Africa: Myths, Visions and the Harsh Realities of Development and Justice: Review Essay: Land Reform in Southern Africa (2011) · cites this paper as Moyo, 2000
Citations
Cites
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“za Open Access placed emphasis on the jambanja [chaotic] manner in which the process was carried out, the new forms of livelihoods it created, its impact on agricultural productivity as well as its relegation of former farm workers into abject poverty (Chaumba, Scoones & Wolmer 2003; Moyo 2000; Sachikonye 2004).”
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“This would entail introducing liberal-democratic civil forms of governance which, simultaneously, involved doing away with the colonially reconstructed chieftainship system (Moyo 2000a, Murisa 2018).”
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“During the 1990s, land occupations expanded in form of content, as peasants, sometimes led by chiefs and local war veterans sporadically invaded not only private land but also state land (Moyo 2000).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Moyo, S.
- Corresponding author
- Moyo, Sam
- Venue
- Journal of Southern African Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2000-03
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 5-28
- ISSN
- 0305-7070 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-3893
- OpenAlex
- W2115156732
- Cited by
- 188
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 19.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Southern African Studies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › African studies and sociopolitical issues
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Land Rights and Reforms
- Social Sciences › Development › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Keywords
- land acquisition, land redistribution, land reform, Zimbabwe, smallholder farmers, land question, structural adjustment, political economy of land, land market, donor policy
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