This blog was originally published in July 2017 and was followed by another one in The Conversation as part of a series on priorities for the Mnangagwa administration. As the previous blogs on ‘new entrants’ have highlighted the need for a low-cost, effective land administration system remains essential – and long overdue. Given the current debate around new tenure arrangements for land reform areas highlighted by the cabinet announcement, I thought that a reprise of this blog from seven years ago (itself part of a series on priorities for the then new Land Commission) was opportune.
The Zimbabwe Land Commission, established as a result of the new national Constitution, has a major task ahead of it. It is vital that an independent Commission looks at the range of land issues in the round. The complexities presented by the post land reform situation are enormous, and a piece-meal approach will not do. Instead, as mentioned in several blogs in this series already, a comprehensive, district by district approach is required, one that is attuned to local circumstances and so flexible, and one that is cost-effective and fiscally sustainable. No matter what donor projects are on offer, they must be resisted unless the state – and private financing combined – can make the system work into the future.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.
