Development strategies for poverty reduction in Zimbabwe's communal areas : change or continuity?

Abstract

Zimbabwe was under British Colonial rule for more than 90 years. Economic disparity between the ruling minority whites and the African majority was linked to access to land, allowing minority whites to control agricultural wealth, one of the mainstays of Zimbabwe's economy. Therefore, lack of access to land is one of the key factors leading to poverty, especially in the communal areas. More than 71 percent of Africans live in the rural areas, mostly in the communal lands where poverty is argued to be the underlying reason for conflict in that country. Two decades after the country gained political independence in 1980, the disparity continued to spread and further marginalise the Africans especially in the communal areas.

This thesis undertakes to discover if poverty in the communal areas in Zimbabwe is the fallout of the unjust colonial land distribution policies alone. It begins by examining the policies that established the original land division put in place during the years of colonial government. It is followed by an analysis of policies towards communal areas implemented by the new independent government after 1980. The thesis seeks to uncover the limitation of those post-independent policies directed at reducing poverty in the communal areas.

It finds shortcomings in these policies and demonstrates that they are due to the continuity in government's top down approach, continuing an approach that had been introduced under colonialism. It also shows a continuity in the emphasis on market-driven policies that continues to direct agricultural production and agricultural resources towards the export market in the name of economic growth. This continuity prevents change and is undertaken at the expense of poverty alleviation in the communal areas.