Land Reform In Zimbabwe

Introduction:

From the introduction of the Land Act in South Africa in 1913, to the segregation policies of apartheid in 1948, blacks, coloureds and Indians in South Africa had been prevented from owning land until 1994 when the country became a democracy and Nelson Mandela was elected as president. At the time, the new Government of National Unity passed the Restitution of the Land Rights Act, which aimed to transfer 30% of white owned land to landless blacks by 2009. A willing buyer-willing seller policy was introduced, but the process was slow and cumbersome and from a numbers perspective the land redistribution policies were not very successful in addressing and solving the land claims issues in South Africa. In 1994, 87% of the land was

The execution of the land reform policies in Zimbabwe and South Africa, as well as their successes, have been very different. South Africa has been careful to take into account its economic stability, its employment figures, GDP growth and prosperity, whereas Zimbabwe has not. Change of land ownership was their ultimate goal. Zimbabwe has successfully transformed its land ownership from half the country being owned by whites in 1930, despite only being 2% of the population, to a country that now only has a population of 30 000 whites, 300 white commercial farms down from 16500 in 1979 and only 450 white owned farms. Robert Mugabe and his government have successfully transformed the land of colonial Zimbabwe, but the economy and the people have paid a large price. The Zimbabwe economy even now is characterised by unemployment, poverty and starvation, a worthless Zimbabwe dollar and a shrinking economy. Success needs to be defined first. In South Africa, the problem has been the slow rate of land reform and restitution due to factors such as cost, complicated legal processes, a large urban population and cultural practices such as where the chief owns the land. In 1913 at the time of the Land Act, 80% of the population was squeezed into 13% of the land, whilst 20% of the people owned about 80% of the land. Twenty years after democracy, this figure is about 79%. The South African Government is now looking at fast tracking the reform process and has recently extended the deadlines for land claims and proclaimed new laws. However in South Africa, the measure of success of a country, the GDP per capita, has been steadily increasing, as has its economy and the people are more well off than they were before 1994. Land reform is a complex process and