Land rights in Africa - Southern Africa

Land Rights	Introduction	Key principles
Africa General	West Africa	East Africa
Horn of Africa	Southern Africa	Links

Angola | Botswana | Lesotho | Malawi | Mozambique | Namibia | South Africa | Swaziland | Zambia | Zimbabwe

Land Reform in the Broader Context of Southern Africa
Source: Robin Palmer (Mokoro Ltd)
Summary: Contains introduction; global – a new threat to poor people’s land – biofuels, older threats, decentralisation; regional – ten years ago, regional land policy review, 2006-7, donors, governments and civil society, the policy-implementation gap, decentralisation, your research programme – DLRSA; conclusion. Argues that since policy engagement at the national level in the past decade has not brought too many successes, more might be achieved in future at the decentralised local level.
Date: 22-23 April 2008 (PLAAS Workshop on Land Reform from Below: Decentralised Land Reform in Southern Africa)
Download the full paper (131K. rtf file)

Children’s Property and Inheritance Rights, HIV and Aids, and Social Protection in Southern and Eastern Africa NEW
Source: FAO HIV/AIDS Programme Working Paper 2 (Laurel L. Rose)
Date: November 2007
Summary: Focuses on the social protection aspects of children’s property and inheritance rights in southern and eastern Africa. Discusses the relationship between HIV and AIDS and agriculture, food security, and rural livelihoods (including children’s property and inheritance rights). Considers factors that render children’s property rights more vulnerable than adults’ property rights. Reviews literature on social protection of children, emphasizing historical developments, types of child social protection, and recipients and providers of child social protection. Presents a rights’ framework for the social protection of children and assesses children’s social protection and property/inheritance rights in the context of international agreements and national instruments, including National Plans of Action, as well as succession and land laws. Presents and analyses several case studies of programmes concerned with children’s property and inheritance rights and social protection issues in southern and eastern Africa, including two case studies from Rwanda. Offers recommendations regarding priority policy and programmatic areas for children’s property rights and social protection in the context of HIV and AIDS.
Download the full paper (1,322K.pdf file) from the FAO website

Independent Review of Land Issues, Volume III, 2006-2007, Eastern and Southern Africa
Source: Martin Adams and Robin Palmer (eds)
Summary: This review of land issues in twenty countries in Southern and Eastern Africa is the third since 2004. The idea of conducting a regular review arose in an informal meeting of land rights activists in Pretoria in 2003 concerned about the seeming lack of progress with land reform in the region and what might be done to improve land rights delivery. It was recognised that there was a lack of systematic information as to what was actually happening and the need to track the progress of the various national programmes underway, as well as monitor land rights under serious threat. The countries covered here are Angola, Botswana, Burundi, DRC (Eastern), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Sudan Transitional States, Southern Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Ends with concluding thoughts.
Date: June 2007
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Children’s property and inheritance rights and their livelihoods: the context of HIV and AIDS in Southern and East Africa
Source: FAO Livelihood Support Programme Working Paper (Laurel L. Rose)
Summary: Focuses on legal and institutional aspects of children’s property and inheritance rights in Southern and East Africa. Discusses violations of those rights and how the spread of HIV and AIDS has contributed to this. Assesses some norms of customary law that aim to protect these rights and some which complicate and limit children’s ability to maintain their rights. Reviews and assesses selection of international and national laws. Identifies several gaps in law and policy. Reviews National Plans of Action for orphans and vulnerable children. Looks at effectiveness of government structures, emphasizing institution of the public trustee. Outlines and evaluates some stakeholder initiatives. Presents eight case studies of children whose rights were violated. Makes recommendations on preventive and corrective methods to protect children’s rights and on future research and development priorities.
Date: November 2006
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Land Tenure Security for Poverty Reduction in Eastern and Southern Africa: Workshop Report
Source: IFAD
Summary: Contains review of land policy formulation and implementation, land tenure challenges and activities in poverty reduction programmes and projects, stakeholder perspectives, lessons learned for mainstreaming land tenure security in poverty reduction.
Date: 27-29 June 2006
Download the full paper (529K.pdf file)

Reclaiming our lives. HIV and AIDS, women's land and property rights, and livelihoods in southern and East Africa. Narratives and responses.
Source: Edited by Kaori Izumi (FAO)
Summary: A serious study of a neglected field, drawing on research, workshops, and personal and organisational testimonies. Covers Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Aims to raise awareness of the heavy impact of HIV and AIDS on women’s property rights and livelihoods, and the active steps being taken by many grassroots organisations to respond to the crisis. Looks at a number of creative initiatives such as the Memory Book Project in Uganda.
Date: July 2006
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Note: Oxfam is grateful to HSRC Press. South Africa, for permission to reproduce this important book in electronic form on this website.

Report of the Regional Workshop on HIV and AIDS and Children’s Property Rights and Livelihoods in Southern and East Africa
Source: FAO Southern Africa (Edited by Kaori Izumi)
Summary: The focus of the workshop, funded by FAO, Oxfam GB, and Women Land Link Africa Project (WLLA), was on children’s property rights. The report covers presentations by children, key issues and inspiring initiatives by CBOs, messages from the UN to children, experiences from Zimbabwe, very moving testimonies by children, and key recommendations. Following the launch of a UNICEF and UNAIDS global campaign, FAO has been initiating work in the neglected area of children’s property and inheritance rights. The development of child-friendly tools, documenting best practice, and sensitizing the public were stressed during the workshop.
Date: 7-8 March 2006
Download the full paper (468K.pdf file)

Critical Reflections on the Role of an International NGO seeking to work globally on Land Rights - with specific focus on Oxfam's experiences in Southern Africa
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Global Land Adviser)
Summary: Explores some dimensions of an international NGO seeking to work globally on land rights. Draws upon the author's own work as well as Oxfam's historical experiences. The first part looks at some of Oxfam's recent work on land rights, at the involvement of DFID on land rights in Africa, at Oxfam's engagement with the World Bank, and a brief word on USAID. The second part examines some of Oxfam's work on land rights over the past two decades in Southern Africa - in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Angola. There are concluding thoughts at the end of each section.
Date: January 2006 (for International Conference on Social Movements Perspectives: Land, Poverty, Social Justice and Development, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, 9-10 January 2006)
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Land Reform Highlights in Southern Africa, 2004-5
Source: Independent Land Issues Review, Volume II, Number 1
Summary: A second volume in this series covering this region, building on that of June 2004, also published on this website. Designed to be useful for planners, programme designers, advocates, practitioners, citizens and subjects engaged in land reform. Contains an introduction, followed by land reform highlights in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Date: December 2005
Download the full paper (276K.pdf file)

Human Rights, Formalisation and Women’s Land Rights in Southern and Eastern Africa
Source: Ingunn Ikdahl, Anne Hellum, Randi Kaarhus, Tor A. Benjaminsen, Patricia Kameri-Mbote (Institute of Women’s Law, University of Oslo, Studies in Women’s Law No.57)
Summary: Contains chapters on formalisation of land rights; women’s land rights - a human rights-based approach; a market-based approach to land rights, followed by country studies on Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Date: June 2005
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Reforming Land Rights: The World Bank and the Globalisation of Agriculture
Source: Elizabeth Fortin (Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex)
Summary: Includes globalisation and agriculture – policies and effects in sub-Saharan Africa; globalisation of agriculture and land; land reform in Southern Africa and the World Bank; World Bank critique – tenure security, land transactions, redistribution. Analyses the World Bank’s policy position on land reform and argues that its approach does not address the structural reasons for the distortions of landholdings in Southern Africa and that such inequality is likely to be reaffirmed and reproduced by the Bank’s proposals. Further argues that the model of market-based land redistribution favoured by the Bank will be insufficient to dissipate the pressures of ever-growing inequality. With considerations of efficiency given prominence over other concerns, concludes that the Bank’s policies are unlikely to meet its overarching goals of poverty reduction and growth.
Date: January 2005
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Note: this article is to appear in the SAGE journal Social and Legal Studies, 14, 2, 2005 and Oxfam is grateful to the publishers for their permission to allow it to appear on this website.

Land Reform Highlights in Southern Africa, 2003-4
Source: Independent Land Newsletter (June 2004)
Summary: An independent newsletter providing news of new developments in land reform in Southern Africa in 2003-4. Covers Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Date: June 2004
Download the full paper (89K.rtf file)

Women’s Land Rights in Southern and Eastern Africa: A short report on the FAO/Oxfam GB Workshop held in Pretoria, South Africa, 17-19 June 2003
Source: Birgit Englert (University of Vienna) and Robin Palmer (Oxfam GB)
Summary: Short (4-page) report on this workshop covering why a successful workshop?, why this workshop?, what were the main themes?, key issues raised in presentations, discussions and working groups, the follow up, website links to the full report of the workshop.
Date: December 2003
Download the full paper (40K .rtf file)

Report of the FAO/Oxfam GB Workshop on Women’s Land Rights in Southern and Eastern Africa held in Pretoria, South Africa, 17-19 June 2003
Source: FAO (Kaori Izumi) and Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer)
Summary: This was a major and highly successful workshop on women’s land rights in Southern and Eastern Africa, organised by FAO and Oxfam GB. It attracted an unusually diverse range of participants. This official report summarises the papers, presentations and discussions in the original order of the programme. It covers the conceptual framework and women’s land rights in the contexts of: legal issues, natural resources, inheritance rights, post-conflict situations, pastoralist communities, HIV/AIDS, land administration, legal aid, rights to housing, land and property, the working group discussions, action points, and includes a number of appendices providing details of participants and their organisations.
Date: October 2003
Download the full paper (560K.doc file) | PDF (1,405K)

Seeking Ways out of the Impasse on Land Reform in Southern Africa: Notes from an informal ‘Think Tank’ Meeting
Source: Informal ‘Think Tank’
Summary: Comprises notes from an informal meeting in Pretoria addressing the impasse on land reform in Southern Africa. The main focus is on overcoming problems and constraints, including on redistribution, tenure reform, the land rights of women, HIV/AIDS and donor support. Has sections on the viability of small-scale farms, post-transfer support, mobilising support for land reform, and proposed follow up. There are two main appendices; one on the status of land reform in each of the countries in the region, the other a matrix of current land issues in each country.
Date: 1-2 March 2003
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The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Rural Households and Land Issues in Southern and Eastern Africa
Source: Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (Scott Drimie)
Summary: Paper prepared for the FAO’s Southern and Eastern Africa Office. Covers the impact of HIV/AIDS on sub-Saharan Africa; the underlying causes of HIV/AIDS; its economic impact; its impact on the household livelihood strategies; and a conceptual framework. Looks at HIV/AIDS and poverty, regional migration, poverty-driven commercial sex work; the impact on the macro economy and the rural economy, on agricultural production and coping strategies, and women, children and the elderly and HIV/AIDS.
Date: September 2002
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The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Land: Case Studies from Kenya, Lesotho and South Africa
Source: Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (Scott Drimie)
Summary: Paper prepared for the FAO’s Southern and Eastern Africa Office. Contains introduction to the impact of HIV/AIDS on land issues – land use, land rights, land administration; country studies; the impact of HIV/AIDS in Lesotho, in Kenya, in South Africa, and general findings and recommendations. Latter include land use strategies, land rights and land administration, and developing solutions.
Date: September 2002
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Integrating Land Issues and Land Policy with Poverty Reduction and Rural Development in Southern Africa
Source: Michael Roth (Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Summary: A synthesis of land issues and land policy constraints in Southern Africa prepared for and revised since the World Bank Regional Workshop on Land Issues in Africa in Kampala, 29 April - 2 May 2002. Synthesises key points made in commissioned papers, plenary comments, and facilitated discussions from a Southern Africa working group. Topics include an overview of land issues and special problems and constraints affecting Southern Africa including land administration, community ownership, financial capital and investment, HIV/AIDS, land markets, conflict, and redistribution. Compares the performance of selected countries in linking land policy with poverty reduction and concludes with steps for better incorporating land issues in country level Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers being endorsed by donors.
Date: September 2002
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HIV/AIDS and Land: Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and South Africa
Source: Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria (Scott Drimie) and Oxfam GB (Dan Mullins, Southern Africa HIV/AIDS Coordinator). Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance Conference, Pretoria, 1-4 September 2002
Summary: Presentation summarising recent research work on HIV/AIDS and land in Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and South Africa. Includes the effect of HIV/AIDS on household and livelihood strategies, impacts on land use, land rights, and land administration, current land policy framework (none of the countries are actively considering current and future impacts of AIDS), recommendations.
Date: 1-4 September 2002
Download the full paper (165K. ppt file)

Papers of FAO/SARPN Workshop on HIV/AIDS and Land, 24-25 June, Pretoria
Source: FAO/SARPN (Southern African Regional Poverty Network)
Summary: Series of country papers on HIV/AIDS and land in Lesotho, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, with concluding paper on methodological and conceptual issues. The key questions addressed include: The impact on and changes in land tenure systems (including patterns of ownership, access, and rights) as a consequence of HIV/AIDS with a focus on vulnerable groups. The ways that HIV/AIDS affected households are coping in terms of land use, management and access, e.g. abandoning land due to fear of losing land, renting out due to inability to utilise land, distress sale of land, etc. The consequence of such coping strategies on security of access and rights to land. The changes in land tenure, access and rights to land among different categories of people as a consequence of HIV/AIDS are affecting agricultural productivity, food security and poverty with a focus on women. The future implications for land tenure arrangements for HIV/AIDS affected households and individuals particularly of AIDS widows HIV orphans. Priority areas for policy interventions with concrete recommendations for securing the land rights of people affected by HIV/AIDS. The areas for research.
Date: 24-25 June 2002
The papers are available on the SARPN website

Land Reform in Southern and Eastern Africa: Key Issues for strengthening Women’s Access to and Rights in Land
Source: Cherryl Walker (for FAO)
Summary: Report on a desktop study commissioned by FAO. Contains introduction; the context for land reform (the legacy of colonialism, women’s access, women in agriculture, HIV/AIDS and land reform); an overview of land reform issues and debates (policy issues, gender equity as a policy goal); land reform and women (case studies from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe); conclusion (key findings and recommendations); synopsis of land policies by country.
Date: March 2002
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Report of the Southern African Regional Conference on Farm Workers’ Human Rights and Security, Harare, Zimbabwe
Source: Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe
Summary: An in-depth report including a regional overview; summaries of country presentations (Swaziland, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe); thematic papers (including implications for land reform, HIV/AIDS, the global agri-food industry, implications of agricultural and trade liberalisation, lessons from the farm worker programme in Zimbabwe); running themes (conditions of service, citizenship and citizen rights, globalisation, land reform, farm visits, the way forward); annexes (communiqué, proposed regional network of NGOs and working strategy for trade unions, list of participants).
Date: 10-14 September 2001
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Communiqué of the Southern African Regional Conference on Farm Workers’ Human Rights and Security
Source: Conference Delegates, Harare, Zimbabwe
Summary: Delegates at the Harare conference on farm workers in Southern Africa noted with concern the continued marginalisation of farm worker communities and made recommendations on: weak labor legislation, citizenship rights, basic human rights, women farm workers/dwellers, HIV/AIDS, child labor and child abuse, globalization, debt cancellation, xenophobia, farm workers and land reform, the need for a regional summit.
Date: 10-14 September 2001
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Off the Map - Farmworkers in Southern Africa: some partly Historical Thoughts on their Invisibility and Vulnerability
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Land Policy Adviser)
Paper at the Southern African Regional Conference on Farm Workers’ Human Rights and Security, Harare, Zimbabwe
Summary: Covers the author’s surprising lack of knowledge of farmworkers; the extensive labour migration in Southern Africa in the 20th century, but the lack of concern about citizenship or nationality then; the historical vulnerability, isolation, and invisibility of farmworkers; the current tightening of borders, increasing xenophobia, greater vulnerability of farmworkers, and failure of government attempts to improve things, that farmworkers have been largely ignored in new land reform programmes, with Zimbabwe illustrating the dangers of this, and the possibility that forced evictions could escalate dangerously.
Date: 10-14 September 2001
Download the full paper (48K.rtf file)

Report on a Regional Consultation on Land Reform
Source: Martin Adams
Summary: Report on a Southern African consultation of donors and civil society organisations held in Benoni on 3 May 2001. Its purpose was to review progress with land reform and what donors might do in its absence. Traces current developments in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Malawi. Argues that donors should not walk away when things turn sour, that land reform is a long-term iterative process, needing the involvement of many stakeholders. Unequal ownership of land is an increasing threat to political stability. Strengthening civil society during periods of government inaction is of value for what follows. Includes a problem analysis, analysis of donor support, rationale and principles of regional support for land reform, proposal for a regional land reform fund, proposed follow up, list of participants, appendix on the SADC Food Security and Rural Development Hub.
Date: 6 June 2001
Download the full paper (73K.rtf file)

Land Reform and Poverty Alleviation in Southern Africa: towards Greater Impact: Conference Report and Analysis
Source: SARPN (Scott Drimie and Sue Mbaya)
Summary: Covers purpose of the conference, proceedings, overview of land reform in the region, facilitating policy recommendations, general policy recommendations - policies and programmes complementary to land reform, policy processes and political dynamics, the role of civil society, state capacity - the way forward, references, country tables, and keynote address by Martin Adams.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
Download the full paper (218K. rtf file)

Southern African Regional Poverty Network Conference Programme: Land Reform and Poverty Alleviation in Southern Africa
Source: SARPN (Scott Drimie)
Summary: Introduction to the SARPN Conference with list of papers, themes and issues.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
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Tenure Security, Livelihoods and Sustainable Land Use in Southern Africa
Source: Martin Adams
Summary: Includes the sustainable livelihoods framework, critical tenure-related livelihood questions, tenure insecurity in Amhara Region of Ethiopia and in Southern Africa, a country-by-country assessment, and discussion of what can be learned to illuminate post-transition land tenure reform.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
Download the full paper (72K.pdf file)

Land Reform, Poverty Reduction and HIV/AIDS
Source: Oxfam GB (Dan Mullins, Southern Africa HIV/AIDS Coordinator)
Summary: Includes introduction, some lessons of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, impacts on people, implications for land reform – impacts on institutions, relationships between affected people and affected institutions, some proposals. Argues the need to understand how the pandemic affects the work of organisations such as Oxfam and to anticipate its future directions and their likely impacts on land reform.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
Download the full paper (438K. pdf file)

Redistributive Land Reform in Southern Africa
Source: Martin Adams and John Howell, ODI (Overseas Development Institute) Natural Resource Perspectives No.64
Summary: Reviews redistributive land reform in Southern Africa (especially Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa) against the background of the current land crisis. Describes dilemmas created for governments and donors and attempts to grapple with them. Seeks answers to: what has been experience with land redistribution over the past decade, what has been the impact on people’s livelihoods, how are the redistribution programmes expected to develop in future, what might be the role of donors in the process?
Date: January 2001
Full paper on ODI website

Networking on Land Issues in Southern Africa: Operationalising the Land Rights Network of Southern Africa
Source: Land Rights Network of Southern Africa
Summary Report of the Interim Steering Committee meeting of the Land Rights Network of Southern Africa in Harare. Contains summary of outcomes, background and objectives, progress report, network establishment, operationalising the network, planning the sub-regional conference, fundraising, next steps.
Date: 16-17 October 2000
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Networking on Land Issues in Southern Africa: Operationalising the Land Rights Network of Southern Africa: Annexes
Source: Land Rights Network of Southern Africa
Summary 5 Annexes to Report of the LRNSA Interim Steering Committee meeting in Harare: agenda; networking activities undertaken by IUCN’s regional policy programme; by the SARIPS land programme; by the Mwengo land project; and under the CBNRM network.
Date: 16-17 October 2000
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Land Policy: its Importance and Emerging Lessons from Southern Africa
Source: Sue Mbaya, Paper presented at the Uganda Land Alliance Workshop on Land Tenure and Land Use Policy, Kampala, Uganda
Summary: With examples from throughout Southern Africa, examines the objectives, impetae, importance, principles and important elements of a land policy; the policy development process and policy implementation; the relevance of a national land policy for Uganda and emerging lessons.
Date: 29 May 2000
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Land Tenure Reform and Rural Livelihoods in Southern Africa
Source: Martin Adams, Sipho Sibanda and Stephen Turner, ODI (Overseas Development Institute) Natural Resource Perspectives No.39
Summary: Reviews land tenure reform on communal land against the background of the repossession of private land occupied by white settlers. The purpose and scope of the proposed tenure reform in the former homelands of South Africa are described, as are attempts by South Africa's neighbours to resolve tenure problems in their communal areas.
Date: February 1999
Full paper on ODI website

Land and the Pursuit of Sustainable Development Pathways for Southern Africa: an Overview
Source: Joseph Matowanyika, Paper given at the DFID Workshop on Land Tenure, Poverty and Sustainable Development in sub-Saharan Africa, Sunningdale, Berkshire
Summary: Oxfam GB was closely involved in the planning of this workshop which brought together 75 practitioners from all over Africa. The author formerly worked for the Oxfam America supported regional organisation ZERO and has written widely on Southern Africa. This regional survey covers a number of sustainable development issues and future challenges for Southern Africa.
Date: 16-19 February 1999
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Natural Resource Tenure in Southern Africa: An Overview of Key Issues and Policy Options for Communal Areas in Southern Africa
Source: Elizabeth Rihoy, SADC Natural Resources Management Project
Summary: Summary of issues arising from the SADC Workshop on Land/Resource Tenure and Decentralisation, Johannesburg, South Africa, 7-9 July 1998. Focuses on introduction to key concepts and terminology, an overview of current trends, and critical policy issues and options.
Date: October 1998
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ZERO focuses on the Land Question in Southern Africa
Source: ZERO News no.1
Summary: First newsletter from Oxfam America-supported ZERO-Regional Environment Organisation, which has embarked on a 5 year research and advocacy programme on land in Southern Africa. This provides details of the programme and of ZERO's regional activities.
Date: 1 October 1998
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Land Tenure in Southern Africa: Context, Trends and Lessons
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Land Policy Adviser, Africa). Paper at the SADC Workshop on Land/Resource Tenure and Decentralisation, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Summary: Presentation on context, trends and lessons in land tenure in Southern Africa written in the form of a series of large-print acetates designed to be of use to others who might find them helpful as explanatory aids.
Date:  7-9 July 1998
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Southern Africa: Angola

Land rights in Angola: poverty and plenty NEW
Source: HPG Working Paper (Conor Foley)
Summary: Includes land rights and conflict, humanitarian challenges, the political and legal framework, economic reform and governance issues, human rights and humanitarian organisations in Angola, corruption and forced evictions, the demobilisation process, rural land grabs, recommendations.
Date: November 2007
Download the full paper (253K.pdf file) from the ODI website

“They Pushed Down the Houses”: Forced Evictions and Insecure Land Tenure for Luanda’s Urban Poor NEW
Source: Human Rights Watch and SOS Habitat
Summary: Includes the context of forced evictions in Luanda; the right to adequate housing; forced evictions and demolition in Luanda; national and international responses; recommendations. Argues that a critical underlying factor was insecure land tenure, which made residents particularly vulnerable and was derived from inadequate land legislation and lack of public information about land rights and urban management policies, inadequate registration procedures, and a consequent false perception of security of tenure by residents.   
Date: May 2007
Download the full paper (1Mb.pdf file) from the HRW website

Terra: Urban land reform in post-war Angola: research, advocacy and policy development (chapters on land policy)
Source: Development Workshop (Angola) and the Centre for Environment and Human Settlements (Edinburgh). Development Workshop Occasional Paper 5.
Summary: This extract from the book Terra contains the contents page, introduction, and executive summary of the whole book, and chapters 10 and 11 on land policy in Angola. The book presents research on post-war urban land management options and the use of action research as an advocacy tool in drafting the 2004 Land Law. Chapter 10, on land policy and land legislation, covers the legal background, a chronology of Angolan laws and the legal revision process, the draft land law, specific recommendations on intermediate and evolutive rights. Chapter 11, on action research as an advocacy tool to influence Angola’s land policies, covers the background, the need and focus for research, disseminating the findings, land firmly on the agenda, lessons learned.
Date: October 2005
Download the full paper (1.21MB pdf file)

Note: Oxfam is especially grateful to Development Workshop for permission to post these chapters from its book Terra on this website, given the dearth of material in English on current land issues in Angola. The book itself is available in the UK from One World Action owa@oneworldaction.org

Land Reform in Angola: Establishing the Ground Rules
Source: Jenny Clover (in Chris Huggins and Jenny Clover Eds, From the Ground Up: Land Rights, Conflict and Peace in Sub-Saharan Africa, ACTS and ISS, June 2005, pp.347-80)
Summary: Includes regional context, history of land tenure in Angola, the 1992 land law and its implementation, the draft Land Act of 2002 and its approval, review of post conflict potential fracture points – resettlement of IDPs and refugees, land grabbing, peri-urban land, food security and revival of agriculture, and prerequisites for a new policy.
Date: June 2005
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Note: Oxfam GB is grateful to the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) for permission to reproduce this chapter from their book, From the Ground Up: Land Rights, Conflict and Peace in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2005.

Oxfam and Land in Post-Conflict Situations in Africa: Examples from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda and Angola
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Global Land Adviser)
Summary: Presentation of 5 brief case studies of what Oxfam actually did with regards land in post-conflict situations in Africa, in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda and Angola, concluding with the common themes, conclusions and lessons that emerged from the case studies. Also includes a critique of the role of USAID.
Date: November 2004
Download the full paper (76K.rtf file)

Land & Natural Resource Management System Assessment, Bie Province, Angola
Source: CARE International Angola (Simon Norfolk, Felisaberto Ngola, Frenanda Elaho, Edith Chivi, Joaquim Rubem, Antonio Fernando, Tiago Kaunda, Jorge Manuel)
Summary: Contains an executive summary and 3 main chapters: on national, provincial and policy context; access to land and natural resources in Bie Province; and key issues for CARE programming – the promotion of livelihood security and equity. Within these chapters are sections on the proposed new Land Law; land administration and decentralisation; land use and availability and mechanisms of access to land; land tenure systems in the study sites. Argues that the central policy issue around which lobbying efforts ought to be directed in the future concern the need for the law to allow for, protect and register the recognised rights of community and family groups such that they become subject to transfer and transaction on terms and conditions suitable to the community or the family.
Date: March 2004
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Land and the Constitution in Angola
Source: Frenando Pacheco (ADRA) translated into English by SANL - the Southern African Network on Land
Summary: Speech in Civil Society Intervention in the Constitutional Process Project. Covers a necessary historical summary; colonial legacy; social representation of land and systems of utilization; new legislation, old practices, new conflicts; some conflict cases; conclusion.
Date: July 2000
Download the full paper (76K.rtf file)

Southern Africa: Botswana

Land Tenure Policy and Practice in Botswana – Governance Lessons for Southern Africa
Source: Martin Adams, Faustin Kalabamu and Richard White). Published in Journal für Entwicklungspolitik (Austrian Journal of Development Studies), XIX, 1, 2003, 55-74. This was part of a special edition devoted to land reform in Africa edited by Birgit Englert and Walter Schicho. Oxfam GB acknowledges with thanks the permission of the Journal (JEP) and its editors to post 3 articles from this edition on this website.
Summary: Like other countries in the region, Botswana inherited a dual system of statutory and customary tenure at independence. Despite the contrasting characteristics of these two systems, it has developed a robust land administration, which has greatly contributed to good governance and economic progress. Its land tenure policy has been described as one of careful change, responding to particular needs with specific tenure innovations. Botswana continues to adapt its land administration, based on customary rights and values, to a rapidly urbanising economy and expanding land market. Its approach is of interest because it is finding solutions to problems that continue to elude its neighbours.
Date: March 2003
Download the full paper (147K. rtf file)

Botswana National Land Policy, Issues Report
Source: National Resource Services (Pty) Ltd, Gaborone (for Botswana Department of Lands, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Environment)
Summary: A review of all Botswana land-related policies in preparation for a comprehensive new National Land Policy. Covers the following issues: land rights, land markets and taxation, urban and rural land management, land use planning, legal, institutional and financial issues. Dominant theme is the need to adjust land policy, laws, management and administration to the changes being brought about by economic development and urbanisation, manifested in a rapidly emerging land market. Government concerned over rise of landlessness and hoarding by speculators.
Date: 18 September 2002
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Southern Africa: Lesotho

The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Land: Case Studies from Kenya, Lesotho and South Africa
Source: Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (Scott Drimie)
Summary: Paper prepared for the FAO’s Southern and Eastern Africa Office. Contains introduction to the impact of HIV/AIDS on land issues – land use, land rights, land administration; country studies; the impact of HIV/AIDS in Lesotho, in Kenya, in South Africa, and general findings and recommendations. Latter include land use strategies, land rights and land administration, and developing solutions.
Date: September 2002
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Land Reform and Poverty Alleviation: Lesotho’s Experiences during the last two Decades
Source: Qhobela Cyprian Selebalo
Summary: Includes abstract, introduction, the Land Act 1979, land ownership, grant of title to land, need for land policy, current land reform proposals, draft White Paper proposals, and strategic options - access to land, land markets, participation.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
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Report of Land Policy Review Commission - Summary of Recommendations
Source: Lesotho Government
Summary: Recommendations of Land Policy Review Commission. Include qualification and capacity to hold title to land and to own land; outlawing gender discrimination on land; fallow and underutilised land; surveying, mapping and registration; block farming; commercial farming; range management; protection of wetlands; urban sites; rural development; institutions involved in land matters, including District and Local Land Boards; dispute resolution mechanisms; mining; forestry.
Date: 29 September 2000
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Southern Africa: Malawi

Whose Security? Deepening Social Conflict over ‘Customary’ Land in the Shadow of Land Tenure Reform in Malawi
Source: Centre for International (CID) Harvard University Working Paper 142 (Pauline E. Peters and Daimon Kambewa)
Summary: Malawi, like other countries in Africa, has a new land policy designed to clarify and formalise customary tenure. The country is poor with a high population density, highly dependent on agriculture, and the research sites are matrilineal-matrilocal, and near urban centres. But the case raises issues relevant to land tenure reform elsewhere: the role of ‘traditional authorities’ or chiefs vis-à-vis the state and ‘community’; variability in types of ‘customary’ tenure; and deepening inequality within rural populations. Even before it is implemented, the pending land policy in Malawi is intensifying competition over land. Discuss this and the increase in rentals and sales; the effects of public debates about the new land policy; a new discourse about ‘original settlers’ and ‘strangers’; and political manoeuvring by chiefs.
Date: March 2007
Download the full paper (200K.pdf file) from the Harvard CID website

A Review of DFID’s Engagement with Land Reform in Malawi
Source: Martin Adams
Summary: Includes experience with land policy development in the region, the Malawi National Land Policy and its implementation strategy, the emerging land market, social protection and economic growth and DFID’s support to date. Among the options suggested to DFID are a more inclusive project, low cost strategic engagement or withdrawal from the land sector. Argues the need for DFID support for public information and awareness and for civil society organisations. Contains a draft legal brief on customary title in Malawian law as an annex.
Date: 10 December 2004
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HIV/Aids and its Impact on Land Issues in Malawi. Paper presented at FAO/SARPN Workshop on HIV/AIDS and Land, 24-25 June, Pretoria
Source: Sue Mbaya (research commissioned by Oxfam GB)
Summary: Shortened version of longer research report for Oxfam GB. Includes introduction, the Malawi context, summary of methodology, summary of findings, recommendations. Argues there is a need to ensure that key laws, policies and development strategies be reviewed to ensure that provisions which marginalize those affected by HIV/AIDS are amended. Need for land administration institutions to grasp the present impact and future implications of the pandemic in terms of their own declining internal capacity.
Date: 24-25 June 2002
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Report on the Malawi Civil Society Conference on Land Reform Policy and Land Law Formulation Process
Source: Sue Mbaya (for Land Rights Network of Southern Africa)
Summary: Contains rationale for the conference, attendance, key issues emerging for discussions, major outcomes, opportunities for LRNSA, the way forward - plan of action for CSOs.
Date: 20-22 March 2002
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Malawi National Land Policy
Source: Government of Malawi (Ministry of Lands, Physical Planning and Surveys)
Summary: This 78-page Policy (replacing with small but significant changes earlier versions which have appeared on this website) was approved by Cabinet on 17 January 2002. A summary of main policy recommendations is followed by 10 chapters: 1. Introduction; 2. Historical evolution of land policy; 3. Overview of land problems; 4. Land tenure reforms, acquisition and disposition; 5. Land administration and resettlement; 6. Land use planning and development; 7. Surveying, mapping and cadastral plans; 8. Titling, registration and dispute settlement; 9. Environmental management; 10. Inter-sectoral coordination.
Note: the Agriculture, Land and Natural Resources Committee of the Malawi Parliament has called for written submissions by 30 August 2002 from the general public, civic organisations and any interested party on the merits and demerits of the Land Policy. These should be addressed to Mr. J. L. Mwenyeheli, Senior Clerk Assistant and Secretary of the Committee, Malawi National Assembly, Private Bag B362, Lilongwe 3, Malawi. Phone: 265 1 772 587, Cell: 265 8 867 911
Fax: 265 1 774 196.
Date: 17 January 2002
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Land Reform in a Regional Context: Malawi Experiences
Source: Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (Fredrick Kandodo)
Summary: Contains background information, historical background, problems that the new Land Policy is addressing, the Policy document, the Land Policy goal, what can we do now that the Policy is with the Cabinet?, appendix.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
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Recent Experiences of Civil Society Participation in Land Policy Planning in Rwanda and Malawi
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Land Policy Adviser)
Summary: Contains the background to the National Land Policy workshops in Rwanda and Malawi in October and November 2000, and discusses civil society involvement prior to, during and after the workshops. Draws comparisons between the two countries and mentions the role of international NGOs.
Date: December 2000
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Report on the Malawian Draft National Land Policy Workshop
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Land Policy Adviser)
Summary: Includes background to the National Land Policy workshop, discussions with civil society, and key issues arising during the workshop (the role of chiefs, the sale of customary land, and the sale of land to foreigners). Contains what next? and a postscript on the Ministry of Lands’ assessment and position one month after the workshop.
Date: October 2000
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Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Land Policy Reform
Source: Malawi Government
Summary: Provides brief summary of the 9 chapters of the full Report, covering evolution of land policy and law, overview of land problems, current land tenure systems, systems of inheritance and land administration, settlement of land disputes, towards a new land policy and legal framework, and strategy for policy development.
Date: March 1999
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Southern Africa: Mozambique

Improving Tenure Security for the Rural Poor Mozambique Country Case Study
Source: FAO LEP Working Paper 5 (Simon Norfolk and Christopher Tanner)  
Summary: Has six main chapters: the nature of land rights; public land administration and registration (implications for rural land occupiers); formalizing DUATs by occupation - participation and registration (local-level consultations and bargaining power); formalization in practice – three case studies; implications for formalizing DUATs and how they can be used (awareness of rights, attitudes, and citizenship); new challenges to implementation (making consultations work, the need to educate, conflicts and access to justice).
Date: October 2006 (updated May 2007)
Download the full paper (647K.pdf file) from the FAO website

Strengthening Responses to the Triple Threat in the Southern Africa region - learning from field programmes in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia – Mozambique Report
Source: Concern Worldwide (CW), Oxfam International (OI) and the Southern Africa Regional Poverty Network (SARPN)
Summary: The triple threat is of HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, and weakening capacity for service delivery in Southern Africa. The Mozambique paper focuses on livelihood security in Manica Province, space for social protection, using political capital to facilitate development, the Mozambique Land Law – an opportunity for sustainable livelihoods, supporting livelihoods – new approaches, treatment – the backbone of addressing AIDS, credit savings, and economic empowerment of women.
Date: July 2006
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Note: Oxfam is grateful to SARPN for permission to post this paper, which also appears on their website at http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0002070/index.php

Land Rights and Enclosures: Implementing the Mozambican Land Law in Practice
Source: Christopher Tanner (Paper presented to the International Conference on The Changing Politics of Land in Africa: domestic policies, crisis management, and regional norms, University of Pretoria)
Summary: Includes key features of current land policy, land law implementation – recording local rights, registering customarily held rights, knowing your rights, the public sector response, private sector and other non-customary land rights, historical land units, land concentration, benefits to local people – community consultations, the positive side of the picture. Argues that an historic opportunity is in danger of being lost to use the Land Law to implement a process of rural transformation with a controlled enclosure process that brings social benefits and generates an equitable and sustainable outcome for all those involved.
Date: 28-29 November 2005
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Interview with Professor José Negrão, Hero of Mozambique’s Poor, about the Land Law
Source: Oxfam America
Summary: José Negrão died on 9 July 2005, aged 49. He was one of the most important intellectuals and researchers in Mozambique, was a leading figure in the Land Campaign and a strong defender of peasant land rights. We publish this recent interview with him in recognition of and in mourning a great and truly independent fighter who did not conform to what others expected but always pursued his own way. He was hugely influential during the Land Campaign and his success then derived from the fact that people trusted his integrity and his independence. He was greatly appreciated right across Southern Africa and did much to interpret Mozambique to its English speaking neighbours. He was also great fun to be with. He will be deeply missed and his death is a huge loss to Mozambique. The interview questions asked here are: How did you get involved with the Land Law? How was the Land Law disseminated? Were there many obstacles? What are some of the other benefits of the Land Law?
Date: July 2005
Download the full paper (25K.html file - link to Oxfam America web site)

Oxfam and Land in Post-Conflict Situations in Africa: Examples from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda and Angola
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Global Land Adviser)
Summary: Presentation of 5 brief case studies of what Oxfam actually did with regards land in post-conflict situations in Africa, in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda and Angola, concluding with the common themes, conclusions and lessons that emerged from the case studies. Also includes a critique of the role of USAID.
Date: November 2004
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Access to Land and other Natural Resources for Local Communities in Mozambique: Current Examples from Manica Province
Source: Tom Durang and Christopher Tanner (Green Agri Net Conference on Farmers Access to Land and Resources: Land Registration in Practice, Denmark)
Summary: Includes secure resource tenure and poverty alleviation, acquiring rights over land and natural resources and how this looks at the field level, local community delimitation, sharing resource access and use benefits, partnership and other forms pf shared resource use, case study experiences at provincial level in Manica.
Date: 1-2 April 2004
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Note: details of this conference are to be found on the Green Agri Net website http://www.greenagrinet.dk/ and Oxfam GB is grateful to Green Agri Net for permission to reproduce it here.

Struggling to Secure and Defend the Land Rights of the Poor in Africa
Source: Oxfam GB (Robin Palmer, Land Policy Adviser). Published in Journal für Entwicklungspolitik (Austrian Journal of Development Studies), XIX, 1, 2003, 6-21. This was part of a special edition devoted to land reform in Africa edited by Birgit Englert and Walter Schicho. Oxfam GB acknowledges with thanks the permission of the Journal (JEP) and its editors to post 3 articles from this edition on this website.
Summary: Article focuses on struggles to secure and defend the land rights of the poor in Africa. A very brief introduction sketches the impact of liberalisation on land in Africa, then looks at the deeper context of land reform, and at the current role of donors. The article goes on to look at detailed case studies of Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa and examines reasons for successes and failures of pro-poor land struggles in those countries. It concludes by focusing on the issue of redistribution in Southern Africa.
Date: March 2003
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Camponeses’ Realities: Their Experiences and Perceptions of the 1997 Land Law
Source: Rachael Knight
Summary: Based on 2002 fieldwork in four rural communities in Manica Province. Divided into five sections: overview – main points; case studies and methodology; effects of the 1997 Land Law in rural communities; problems encountered during implementation; recommendations; conclusion. Includes suspicion of the legal system, effects of legal knowledge, greater awareness of rights, class inequalities, conflicts between political parties, corruption and ignorance of local officials, attitudes to investors. Concludes that the Land Law is facilitating monumental changes in the consciousness of rural small scale farmers and slowly accomplishing everything it set out to do and more, actively granting rural peasants rights and a means through which they can secure those rights.
Date: November 2002
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Promoting Land Rights in Africa: How do NGOs Make a Difference?
Source: IIED (Nazneen Kanji, Carla Braga and Winnie Mitullah)
Summary: Investigates the effectiveness of NGOs’ strategies and methods to influence land policy reform. Report based on a study of seven NGOs promoting land reform and land rights in Mozambique and Kenya. Covers country contexts – NGO sectors and land policy reform; NGOs in the policy process – roles and relationships; assessing the impact of NGOs on land policy processes; key findings and lessons. Studies show that legislation and regulations can be modified, reinterpreted or ignored during implementation, when local level power relations become critical. Thus building the capacity of community groups to take informed action is critical to long-term and sustainable pro-poor policy influence, and monitoring implementation is key for NGOs. Those in the study all feel they need to engage directly with communities if they are to gain legitimacy for advocacy and monitoring.
Date: October 2002
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Land in Africa – an Indispensable Element towards Increasing the Wealth of the Poor
Source: José Negrão (Professor of Development Economics, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique). Published in Oficina dos Centro de Estudos Sociais, No. 179, Setembro 2002, Universidade de Coimbra, pp.1-21.
Summary: Includes the dimension of poverty and the need for land; colonisation and decolonisation; the imposition of globalization; indispensable but sufficient; constructing/ building the institutional framework in Mozambique. Cites the key issues cited by Mozambican civil society – no to landless people in Mozambique; no to absentee landowners, those who let the land and do not invest; recognition of testimonial proof of land occupation by the poor; incorporation of common law systems into the legal framework; and stop the bi-modal approach for agricultural development.
Date: September 2002
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The Land Debate in Mozambique: will Foreign Investors, the Urban Elite, Advanced Peasants or Family Farmers Drive Rural Development?
Source: Oxfam GB in Southern Africa (Joseph Hanlon)
Summary: A Research Paper commissioned by Oxfam GB's Regional Management Centre for Southern Africa. Land is again the subject of debate in Mozambique, five years after the passage of a land law which won praise for protecting peasant rights while creating space for outside investment. The new debate is about whether land, or at least land 'titles', should be able to be sold and mortgaged, are whether more emphasis should be put on improving conditions for would-be investors rather than delimiting and protecting peasant land and capacitating communities to deal with investors. Argues that the debate on land is actually a proxy for a debate about rural development. There are sharp divisions within government, the World Bank, donor agencies, and Mozambican civil society. The land debate is also linked to one over rural credit and support for farmers. The paper looks a what land is available for investors and at the difference between free or vacant land and underused land. The law gives communities the right to delimit and register their land. Delimitation gives communities power, but the process can cause problems, raising expectations and sometimes disinterring old disputes. Although the process is expensive and time-consuming, it may be the only way to protect peasant rights. The paper is not intended to make recommendations. Instead, it cites proposals already made by Mozambicans and foreigners working on the land issue on: continuing the work of the land commission; improving consultation; continuing delimitation; creating a kind of community organiser, facilitator or barefoot planner; enforcement of regulations and agreements; pilot partnerships; credit guarantee funds; increased transparency. It concludes by stressing the central role of Mozambican NGOs, but raises a number of questions about their increased role as service agencies and their ability to do what may be asked of them.
Date: 12 July 2002
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The paper is also available in Portuguese (227K rtf file)

Challenging Conventional Wisdom: Smallholder Perceptions and Experience of Land Access and Tenure Security in the Cotton Belt of Northern Mozambique
Source: Land Tenure Center University of Wisconsin Working Paper 48 (Paul J. Strasberg and Scott Kloeck-Jenson)
Summary: Covers land use patterns in the Cotton Belt - joint venture companies, smallholders and privados; research questions and characteristics of the five study zones; smallholder perceptions of land tenure security and experiences with conflict in the Cotton Belt. Challenges widely held beliefs about land tenure and access in the smallholder sector in Mozambique. Provisions in the new legal framework will not be sufficient to eliminate or adjudicate land conflicts between smallholders. The research results reveal significant variation in the size of household landholdings. Land access was found to be closely linked to key welfare indicators such as income and calorie availability; a weak non-farm economy heightens the importance of land for the welfare of rural families. These results contradict views held by many that land access is unconstrained for Mozambican smallholders.
Date: April 2002
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The Development of the 1997 Land Law in Mozambique
Source: IIED (Nazneen Kanji, Carla Braga, Winnie Mitullah)
Summary: An appendix from a longer IIED report on Promoting Land Rights in Mozambique and Kenya: How do NGOs make a Difference? Includes the role of NGOs, the national conference on land issues 1996, the anti-privatisation demonstration, the land campaign 1997-9, implementation issues.
Date: April 2002
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Land Reform and Poverty Alleviation in Mozambique
Source: Simon Norfolk and Harold Liversage (for SARPN)
Summary: Details the development of contemporary land rights policy and poverty alleviation planning in Mozambique, lessons learned from recent experiences of land reform in Zambézia Province, and challenges and strategic options for future support for land reform. Argues that the land reform programme has now reached a critical stage with senior officials believing that measures in the 1997 Land Law designed to protect community tenure are obstacles to investment, and growing support for unfettered privatisation of land rights which would mainly benefit speculators. Looks at capacity and resource issues at provincial and district levels, at community consultations and representation, and the costs of land registration.
Date: March 2002
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also available in PDF format on the SARPN website

Law-Making in an African Context: The 1997 Mozambican Land Law
Source: FAO (Christopher Tanner)
Note: Oxfam GB is grateful to the FAO for allowing it to post here a Word version of this paper, which is also available in pdf format on the FAO's website (see below).
Summary: Contains arguments for a more radical approach, policy development, the National Land Policy, developing and approving the law, the political context, the Land Law Regulations, the open border model, and the persistence of old approaches. Argues that the 1997 Land Law represented a significant effort to integrate customary and formal legal frameworks, to secure land rights for communities, and stimulate rural development. Analyses from the vantage point of an FAO technical advisor the process by which the law and regulations were developed from unparalleled dialogue and collaboration between government, civil society and technical specialists. Highlights important lessons the process holds for other countries and concludes with an assessment of the challenges of implementing the law and making its promise a reality.
Date: March 2002 (FAO Legal Papers Online #26)
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Available also on the FAO website (PDF file)

Land Law and Agricultural Development in the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique and in Swaziland
Source: Peter Bechtel
Summary: Comparative study of Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, and Swaziland. Includes why land?, land ownership, its use for economic benefit/survival, the Fogão Africano/Emaseko as an analysis tool, land tenure in law and practice, land use and management, conclusions and recommendations.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
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Report on an FAO Workshop on Common Property Tenure Regimes: Methodological Approaches and Experiences from African Lusophone Countries
Source: DFID Rural Livelihoods Department (Christopher Tanner)
Summary: Summarises the 12 presentations made at the workshop, 8 of which concerned Mozambique, the remainder Sao Tome Principe, Angola, Guinea Bissau and Cabo Verde. Topics include the work of the inter-ministerial Land Commission, the Technical Annex of the Land Law, DINAGECA, and a training video A Nossa Tera (available in Portuguese and English). The report concludes with a summary of the seminar outcomes and a note on their transferability to Anglophone countries.
Date: December 2000
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Cadastral Politics: the Making of Community Forestry in Zimbabwe and Mozambique
Source: David McDermott Hughes (Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University)
Summary: Looks at two contrasting community forestry projects in west-central Mozambique (Gogoi) and eastern Zimbabwe (Vhimba) and the struggles over the bounding and control of land. Addresses the idea that communities, states and private companies would want to or be capable of making joint decisions on forests and other natural resources. The lesson seems to be to dispense with the ideology of sharing and join the rough and tumble of cadastral politics.
Date: June 2000
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The Mozambican Land Campaign, 1997-99
Source: José Negrão, Land Campaign National Coordinator
Paper at the Workshop on the Associatve Movement, Maputo, Mozambique.
Summary: The Land Campaign (Campanha Terra), which formally came to an end in November 1999, but which will re-emerge as a Land Forum, was supported by Oxfam GB and other Oxfams working in Mozambique in their Joint Advocacy Programme. The paper describes the background to and results of the campaign and the activities in its first and second years, mentions how it was organised, and briefly outlines plans for the future.
Date: 14 December 1999 (translated January 2000)
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The Land Campaign in Mozambique
Source: José Negrão, Campaign Coordinator
Summary: The Land Campaign (Campanha Terra) is supported by Oxfam GB. The paper describes how the campaign emerged and was organised, its objectives and messages, and the materials produced.
Date: February 1999
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Women’s Land Rights in post-War Mozambique
Source: UNIFEM (Rachel Waterhouse)
Summary: Based on a case study of gender relations and land rights in Ndixe village, Marracuene district, southern Mozambique. Structured into: women are disadvantaged in the post-war struggle for land; most women in Mozambique depend principally on subsistence agriculture, and then on access to land, to ensure their livelihoods; women have only secondary land rights under a resurgent customary law, but the rules may be changing; women have equal land rights to men under formal law, but most rural women are ignorant of these rights and hardly make use of them.
Date: February 1998
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Southern Africa: Namibia

Kessl. A New Jurisprudence of Land Reform in Namibia? NEW
Source: Legal Assistance Centre (Land, Environment and Development Project –Sidney L. Harring and Willem Odendaal) and Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit 
Summary: Includes the legal process of land reform in Namibia; the framing of the Kessl case; Article 16 and land expropriation; Article 18 on administrative justice; a new jurisprudence of land reform in Namibia? The case repeatedly upholds the legality of the principle of land expropriation, but finds that the Ministry’s administration of it has violated Namibian law on several grounds. The judgement undermines the Government’s credibility in terms of its ability to plan and manage its own land reform programme. This opinion charts the way to a new Namibian jurisprudence that can break the deadlock on land reform, moving the process forward with full commitment to the rule of law and is highly significant for the future of land reform in Namibia and Southern Africa generally.
Date: April 2008
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Protection for Women in Namibia’s Land Reform Act: Is it Working? NEW
Source: Legal Assistance Centre (Land, Environment and Development Project - Wolfgang Werner)
Summary: Includes women and livelihoods; gender equality in land policy and policy development; the Communal Land Reform Act; women’s rights to land and livestock; conclusion and recommendations.
Date: March 2008
Download the full paper (588K.pdf file) from the LAC website

‘No Resettlement Available’: An assessment of the expropriation principle and its impact on land reform in Namibia NEW
Source: Legal Assistance Centre (Land, Environment and Development Project)
Summary: Contains introduction, three farms - the beginnings of land expropriation in Namibia; the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act 6 of 1995; the process of land reform in Namibia; the resettlement programme revisited; farm workers and resettlement; conclusions and recommendations. Argues that Namibia has to reconceptualise its agrarian model because the present land reform programme is setting impoverished black farmers up to fail.
Date: November 2007
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‘Our land they took’: San land rights under threat in Namibia
Source: Legal Assistance Centre(Land, Environment and Development Project)
Summary: A study of the San, the poorest and most marginalised minority group in Namibia, with little access to existing political and economic institutions. They have been dispossessed of most of their ancestral lands and on lands they still occupy there are major issues of resource overuse, degradation, illegal grazing, unclear legal status and ongoing threats of dispossession. Looks at threats to San lands in 4 distinct parts of the country and the legal issues raised by those threats. Recommendations cover who owns the land, land reform, reforming governmental administration, law, social change and San rights. Argues the need for prompt government action to prevent political and legal chaos.
Date: December 2006
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The SADC Land and Agrarian Reform Initiative: The case of Namibia
Source: Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU Working Paper No 111, Willem Odendaal)
Summary: Looks at the institutional framework, at current key land policy and agrarian issues, and at the impact of land and agrarian reform. Makes a series of recommendations. Argues that the resettlement programme has failed with not a single project sustainable after 5 years. Argues the need for clear criteria for expropriation of commercial farmland and for farm workers to be a priority target in land reform projects.
Date: December 2006
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A Place We Want to Call Our Own. A study on land tenure policy and securing housing rights in Namibia? NEW
Source: Legal Assistance Centre (Land, Environment and Development Project)
Summary: Chapters cover introduction and background; land tenure; housing; inheritance and marital property legislation; poverty reduction strategy; land management systems; implementation of land and housing rights; good practices; conclusions; recommendations. Argues that the challenge is to take the steps necessary to speed up full implementation of the Flexible Land Tenure System so as to revitalise the hopes and aspirations of the thousands of poor families living in informal settlements. Concludes that law reform in Namibia should focus more on the equitable distribution of property upon divorce and death.
Date: May 2005
Download the full paper (1402K.pdf file) from the LAC website

Improving Tenure Security for the Rural Poor Namibia Country Case Study
Source: FAO LEP Working Paper 6 (Ben Fuller)  
Summary: Sub-title is Investing in Rights – lessons from rural Namibia. Has four main chapters: the mosaic of land and rights issues; land rights initiatives (Affirmative Action Loan Scheme, resettlement, conservancies, communal registration); threats to rights (groups with limited rights, farm workers, small-scale farmers, and illegal fencing); strengths and weaknesses in rights reform.
Date: October 2006
Download the full paper (1107K.pdf file) from the FAO website

Farm Workers in Namibia: Living and Working Conditions
Source: Labour Resource and Research Institute (Cons Karamata)
Summary: Covers farming, personal and demographic data in the sample areas, working conditions, minimum wages, ownership of livestock and tenure rights, living conditions, human and labour relations, occupational health and safety, HIV/AIDS, conclusions and recommendations. Key research questions included the impact of the 2003 minimum wage legislation on living standards and employment levels, health and safety issues, land use rights and gender-based differences in employment conditions. Almost all farm workers are employed on a full-time basis and over a quarter of those surveyed had been in their current employment for over 6 years. Labour relations are far better on black-owned than on white-owned commercial farms, where a master-servant mentality still persists and many workers are in debt to the farm shops.
Date: August 2006
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Determination of the Feasibility of Conducting an Assessment of the Impact of Farm Worker Evictions on Farm Worker Livelihoods in Namibia
Source: Legal Assistance Centre, Namibia (Land, Environment and Development Project)
Summary: A detailed study of the rationale behind farm-worker evictions and their effects on farm-worker communities in a country where there is currently no legislation protecting tenure rights. Looks at common-law evictions, District Labour Courts and their phasing out, at data extracted from court rolls, reasons for filing complaints, and at drafting legislation for Namibia. Concludes with recommendations.
Date: June 2006
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Our Land we Farm. An analysis of the Namibian Commercial Agricultural Land Reform Process
Source: Legal Assistance Centre, Namibia (Land, Environment and Development Project)
Summary: Looks at land tax, land expropriation, foreign ownership, the National Resettlement Programme and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme, case studies, and donor support in the land-reform process. Concludes with recommendations on expropriation, farm workers, sustainability of resettlement projects, gender issues, skills sharing and training.
Date: September 2005
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Report on the proceedings of the National Conference on Women’s Land and Property Rights and Livelihood in Namibia, with a Special Focus on HIV/AIDS
Source: Namibia Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare and FAO
Summary: Report divided into 5 themes: legal issuers of women’s rights to land and property in Namibia; traditional institutions on women’s land and property rights; HIV/AIDS, land and property rights, and livelihood strategies; Namibian experiences; regional experiences (Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe). 6 group discussions on: sensitisation and paralegal training; legal and policy reforms to secure women’s rights to movable and immovable property; establishment of local institutions and mechanisms to protect and strengthen women’s land and property rights; HIV/AIDS and women’s land and property rights and livelihood; potential projects and programmes for food security and livelihood strategies; specific support to orphans and other vulnerable children.
Date: 6-8 July 2005
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Land reform in Namibia: A Bibliography
Source: Wolfgang Werner with inputs for Robin Sherbourne (for Institute for Public Policy Research)
Summary: A lists of references on research specifically on land reform in Namibia published on or after 1990, including official documents but excluding newspaper and magazine articles. This bibliography was commissioned by the Institute for Public Policy Research in Namibia and Oxfam GB is grateful for IPPR’s permission to publish it on this website.
Date: March 2004
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Guide to the Communal Land Reform Act NEW
Source: Legal Assistance Centre (Land, Environment and Development Project) and Advocacy Unit Namibia National Farmers Union
Summary: A detailed guide covering communal land boards, communal land areas, allocation of customary, grazing and leasehold ,rights in respect of communal land, general provisions.
Date: July 2003
Download the full paper (1544K.pdf file) from the LAC website

A Rich Man’s Hobby
Source: Institute for Public Policy Research Opinion No.11 (Robin Sherbourne)
Summary: Argues that the price of commercial farmland in Namibia is high in relation to the profits that can be made from commercial livestock farming. As a result, farming is rapidly becoming the preserve of the urban rich who farm as a lifestyle choice and are prepared to subsidise their farms from their principal sources of income. Government policy is trying to encourage black Namibians into commercial farming through the Affirmative Action Loans scheme. However, given the price of land, many of these farmers will struggle to create commercially viable farms. This is bound to cause frustration further down the road and new farmers will start to demand more subsidies to purchase farms and diversify into other activities that will allow them to raise their incomes. Government will then have to decide whether to increase subsidies to encourage broader land ownership or simply allow those who can afford to farm to benefit from land reform.
Date: December 2003

Note: This and other papers are available on the IPRI workshop at http://www.ippr.org.na/

Download the full paper (376K.rtf file)

Land Reform and Poverty Alleviation: Experiences from Namibia
Source: Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (Wolfgang Werner)
Summary: Covers land reform and poverty alleviation, land reform since independence, thinking on land reform before independence (in exile and internally), experiences with land reform and its connection to poverty, prospects for land reform, options for assistance.
Date: 4-5 June 2001 (SARPN Conference)
Download the full paper (73K.rtf file)

Land Reform in Namibia
Source: Martin Adams
Summary: Examines the experience of land reform in Namibia over the past decade and how this might develop in the coming decade. Little progress has been made but developments in Zimbabwe have hugely increased interest and awareness. Discusses political and ethnic challenges, environmental constraints, institutional tensions, redistribution of commercial farms, SWAPO's Land Reform Policy, the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme, the resettlement programme, land tenure reform in the Communal Areas, and problems of institutional capacity.
Date: November 2000
Download the full paper (77K.rtf file)

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Southern Africa: South Africa

Contextualising the controversies: dilemmas of communal tenure reform in post-apartheid South Africa NEW
Source: Introduction to Aninka Claassens and Ben Cousins, Land, Power & Custom: Controversies generated by South Africa’s Communal Land Rights Act (Juta Publishing, Cape Town, 2008)
Summary: Includes the legacies of colonial and apartheid rule, policy dilemmas, key controversies – private ownership or customary land rights?; the nature and content of ‘customary’ land rights; transforming gender inequalities; land rights, authority and accountability; processural or rule-bound versions of ‘customary’ law; was the appropriate procedure followed in enacting the Communal Land Rights Act?
Date: August 2008
Download the full paper (229K.pdf file)

Note: Oxfam is grateful to Juta Publishing for permission to post the introduction to this new book which is being distributed in the UK by Gazelle Books http://www.gazellebookservices.co.uk/

Land Reform in South Africa. Getting back on track NEW
Source: Centre for Development and Enterprise – (CDE Research Report 16) 
Summary: Includes case studies: land market dynamics and land reform in Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga; current government programmes and policies; South Africa’s land market and land reform; private sector contributions to land reform; 3 agri-business sectors and land reform – fruit, timber, sugar; research conclusions: key challenges to land reform now; where are we now, and where are we heading?; getting back on track: CDE’s recommendations. Argues it is of considerable concern that the Director-General of Land Affairs recently said that at least 50% of government land reform projects have failed to make their beneficiaries permanently better off. There is much empirical evidence to show that the private sector and markets make major contributions to South Africa’s development in general and to land reform in particular. CDE believes it is vital to understand private sector perspectives on land reform and that the positive role of the private sector in land reform can and should be expanded.
Date: May 2008
Download the full paper (630K.pdf file) from the CDE website 

Land Reform and Rural Territories: Experiences from Brazil and South Africa NEW
Source: Julian Quan (IIED Gatekeeper series 134)
Summary: Despite programmes for rural land reform and redistribution around the world, inequitable land distribution and rural poverty remain profound in much of the rural South. This paper suggests a new approach to land reform and rural development. ‘Rural territorial development’ is based on and encourages shared territorial identity (distinctive productive, historical, cultural and environmental features) amongst different stakeholders and social groupings. It builds on the fact that rural people’s livelihood strategies are complex and often mostly non-agricultural in nature. It works by (1) promoting collaboration between different sectoral agencies, levels and administrative units of government, and with civil society and private sector actors, within distinctive geographical spaces; and (2) creating new, inclusive multi-stakeholder fora for participatory development planning and implementation at the meso scale - working across groupings of local municipalities, which are often too small on their own to drive economic development.
Date: February 2008
Download the full paper (159K.pdf file) from the IIED website

Tenure Arrangements and Support for Land Rights in South Africa’s Land Reform
Source: PLAAS and ICCO conference on Another Countryside? Policy Options for Land and Agrarian Reform in South Africa, Policy Options 3 (Edward Lahiff)
Summary: Contains introduction – the challenge of tenure reform in South Africa; tenure issues in resettlement: redistribution and restitution; tenure security of farm dwellers – securing long-term tenure under ESTA, labour tenants, ways forward; conclusion and recommendations on resettlement and farm dwellers.
Date: 24-25 October 2007
Download the full paper (528K.pdf file)

Land Demand, Targeting & Acquisition in South Africa’s Land Reform
Source: PLAAS and ICCO conference on Another Countryside? Policy Options for Land and Agrarian Reform in South Africa, Policy Options 2 (Ruth Hall)
Summary: Includes how land is currently identified and acquired; recognising and responding to demand; what do we know about land needs?; innovative ways of working with needs / demand and supply; land prices; towards alternatives; conclusion; recommendations.
Date: 24-5 October 2007
Download the full paper (582K.pdf file)

Land Use and Livelihoods in South Africa’s Land Reform
Source: PLAAS and ICCO conference on Another Countryside? Policy Options for Land and Agrarian Reform in South Africa, Policy Options 1 (Ruth Hall)
Summary: Includes patterns of land use in land reform; how land use is currently planned; livelihood impacts of land uses in land reform; dynamics in the commercial farming sector; international experiences; towards alternative land uses and livelihoods; conclusions; recommendations.
Date: 24-5 October 2007
Download the full paper (894K.pdf file)

Policy options for land reform in South Africa: New Institutional Mechanisms?
Source: PLAAS Policy Brief 26 (Lionel Cliffe)
Summary: Since the 2005 Land Summit, new approaches to land reform have been on the agenda, yet there remains little clarity on the way forward. The main focus has been on means of accelerating the redistribution of land through new modes of acquiring land. Acquisition is an important matter but if treated in isolation risks mis-specifying the core problems evident in land reform in South Africa. A new phase of land reform located within a wider agrarian reform is needed and will require new institutional arrangements. Any alternative strategy will have to revise the institutional mechanisms that have been handling land reform thus far: are the procedures and the institutions that are in place to design and implement land reform adequate and appropriate to the kind of new tasks envisaged? What new farming units and activities are intended, and what post-transfer support will be required to make this agricultural system productive? This paper explores mechanisms appropriate to one kind of agricultural alternative: a vision of a productive, small-scale essentially household farm sector. Draws on experiences from Latin America and elsewhere in Africa.
Date: October 2007
Download the full paper (357K.pdf file) from the PLAAS website.

PLAAS Research Reports on Restitution in South Africa
Source: PLAAS Research Reports 26-36
Summary: Titles are: International comparative study of strategies for settlement support provision to land reform beneficiaries by Susan Tilley (RR26); Business models in land reform by Edward Lahiff (RR27); Bakwena ba Mare a Phogole (Klipgat) community restitution claim by Susan Tilley and Ntombizabantu Nkazane (RR28); Groenfontein-Ramohlakane community restitution claim by Susan Tilley, Ntombizabantu Nkazane and Edward Lahiff (RR29); Restitution and post-settlement support: Three case studies from Limpopo by Tshililo Manenzhe and Edward Lahiff (RR30); Bjatladi community restitution claim by Susan Tilley and Edward Lahiff (RR31); The impact of land restitution and land reform on livelihoods by Ruth Hall (RR 32); eMpangisweni community trust claim by Susan Tilley (RR33); Schmidtsdrift community land claim by Karin Kleinbooi (RR34); Covie community land claim by Karin Kleinbooi and Edward Lahiff (RR35); Land redistribution and poverty reduction in South Africa: The livelihood impacts of smallholder agriculture under land reform by Edward Lahiff, Themba Maluleke, Tshililo Manenzhe and Marc Wegerif (RR36)
Date: August 2007
Download the full papers (sizes vary between 1212 and 3886K.pdf files) from the PLAAS website
http://www.plaas.org.za/publications/researchreports/RR26 through to RR36

State, Market or the Worst of both? Experimenting with Market-based Land Reform in South Africa
Source: Programme of Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape, Occasional Paper 30 (Edward Lahiff)
Summary: Paper reviews the South African experience with land reform, and land redistribution in particular, up to the end of 2005. Looks at various aspects of market-based land reform – landowner veto on participation in land reform; payment of ‘market prices’ for land; self-selection of beneficiaries; focus on ‘commercial’ forms of production; prominent role for the private sector in provision of credit, extension, and other services. The experience suggests that market-based approaches are incapable of effecting a large-scale redistribution of land or restructuring of the agrarian economy, and are likely to be met with growing popular opposition as the crisis of rural livelihoods grows and the limitations of ‘willing seller, willing buyer’ become apparent.
Date: January 2007
Download the full paper (368K.pdf file)

More than simply ‘socially embedded’: recognizing the distinctiveness of African land rights
Source: Ben Cousins and Aninka Claassens
Summary: Discusses controversies generated by recent South African legislation (the Communal Land Rights Act), shows how these echo debates in the wider African context, and explores potential solutions to reform of ‘customary’ land tenure regimes. Argues that the most appropriate approach to tenure reform is to make socially legitimate occupation and use rights the point of departure for both their recognition in law and for the design of institutional contexts for mediating competing claims and administering land. Legal frameworks should vest land rights in the people who occupy and use land, not in groups