|
Land reform in Zimbabwe officially began in 1980 with the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement, as an effort to more equitably distribute land between black subsistence farmers and white Zimbabweans of European ancestry, who had traditionally enjoyed superior political and economic status. The programme's targets were intended to alter the ethnic balance of land ownership.〔SADC newsletter: (Eddie Cross interview, see Q2 )〕 Inequalities in land ownership were inflated by a growing overpopulation, depletion of over-utilised tracts, and escalating poverty in subsistence areas parallel with the under-utilisation of land on commercial farms. However, the predominantly white commercial sector also provided a livelihood for over 30% of the paid workforce and accounted for some 40% of exports. Its principal crops included sugarcane, coffee, cotton, tobacco, and several varieties of high-yield hybrid maize. Both the commercial farms and the subsistence sector maintained large cattle herds, but over 60% of domestic beef was furnished by the former.〔 In sharp contrast, the life of typical subsistence farmers was difficult, and their labour poorly rewarded. As erosion increased, the ability of the subsistence sector to feed its adherents diminished to an alarming degree.〔 Land hunger was at the centre of the Rhodesian Bush War, and was addressed at Lancaster House, which sought to concede equitable redistribution to the landless without damaging the white farmers' vital contribution to Zimbabwe's economy. At independence from the United Kingdom in 1980, the Zimbabwean authorities were empowered to initiate the necessary reforms; as long as land was bought and sold on a willing basis, the British government would finance half the cost. In the late 1990s, Prime Minister Tony Blair terminated this arrangement when funds available from Margaret Thatcher's administration were exhausted, repudiating all commitments to land reform. Zimbabwe responded by embarking on a "fast track" redistribution campaign, forcibly confiscating white farms without compensation.〔 The government's land distribution is perhaps the most crucial and most bitterly contested political issue surrounding Zimbabwe. It has been criticised for the violence and intimidation which marred several expropriations, as well as the systematic failure of domestic banks which held billions of dollars worth of bonds on liquidated properties.〔 The United Nations has identified several key shortcomings with the contemporary programme, namely failure to compensate ousted landowners as called for by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the poor handling of boundary disputes, and chronic shortages of material and personnel needed to carry out resettlement in an orderly manner.〔(Zimbabwe Country Analysis )〕 As of 2011 237,858 Zimbabwean households have been provided with access to land under the programme. A total of 10,816,886 hectares have been acquired since 2000, compared to the 3,498,444 purchased from voluntary sellers between 1980 and 1998.〔 By 2013, every white-owned farm in Zimbabwe had been either expropriated or confirmed for redistribution.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2013 )〕 ==Background== The white farming population, originating from Europe and South Africa first arrived in Southern Rhodesia in the 1890s. In 1918, in ''In re Southern Rhodesia''〔() (UKPC 78 ), () AC 211, decided on 26 July 1918〕 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London ruled that the land of Southern Rhodesia was owned by the Crown and not by the British South Africa Company. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Land reform in Zimbabwe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|