Land Grabbing in Zambia

What is grabbing?

Obtaining large amount of something

(affecting peoples livelihood)

Which way forward?

Background

• BEFORE COLONIALISM land was administered under tribal norms

• Land unevenly distributed

• Colonialism brought new land admin policies of landholding

- Crown Land-meant for white settlers only (prime land)

- Native reserves-for natives only

- Native trust land-for building towns for natives (non natives given five year leases)

Background (Cont’d)

• Post-independence: focused on nation building

• Buying and selling of land prohibited

• 1972: “one-party participatory democracy”

• 1980: food riots, donors withholding aid

• 1991 came Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)

Background (cont’d)

• Introduced 1995 Lands Act

• Lands Act continued vesting all land in the hands of the President

• Introduced buying & selling of land

• Vision 2030: Govt Document “sets out the goals and targets to be achieved in the various spheres of Zambia’s social-economic life over the next generation”

Land Tenure in Zambia

Land Tenure (Cont’d)

• at independence land categories reduced to 2 tenure systems: Customary & Leasehold

• Leasehold tenure: Privatized & sold to multinationals by the govt

• Smallholders have little control over land: discrimination & limited protection in either tenure system for women, youth & the poor

Land Tenure (Cont’d)

• Customary land tenure: Some Chiefs selling land to Zambian elite and non Zambians without consent of the people who cultivate it

• People displaced due to land grabbing by large scale international investors

Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA)Lands Act 1995 enacted

Zambian civil society was necessary to bring changes

1997: ZLA formed to lobby for pro-poor land laws & policies, research, awareness

Lobbying for decentralzn of land, increasing protection of the poor

monitoring implementatn of land legislation, & minimum land quota for

Zambia Land Alliance

Issues and causes of Land

Grabbing• i) Customary norms (Inheritance):

- land is governed by traditional leaders with more power & authority to grab land from any one and sell to investors without consulting their people

- Widows and orphans most victims

- Monze district - Mostly matrilineal and at marriage most men in the villages acquire land from their uncles to start new homes

Land is source of Traditional authority, leading to

overlooking the needs of marginalized groups in

society (disabled)

Land inheritance questionable

• Mother in law of widow expressing her authority over the house & land left

by her deceased son

Bio-fuel crops, whose benefit?....

Effects of land grabs

Effects

Effects

Effects

Effects (cont’d)

• Engagement in prostitution: HIV/AIDS

• School and education stop

• Increased marginalisation of people

Effects

• Migration of displaced people to the unplanned areas

• Overcrowding due to limited parcels of land, likely to cause pandemic diseases

Effects (Cont’d)

• Casual jobs

• Undesirable competition for resources such as land to build houses & pastoral land that cause social conflicts

• General insecurity resulting from increasing hostilities between the old (community) and new land owners

• Exacerbated hunger situation as source of income is affected

Intervention Strategies

• Limited data in land grabbing in Zambia

• Conducting round table meetings with Govt & Traditional Leaders: lasting solution to these land grabs

• public awareness meetings: empowering communities on their land rights

• Lobbing Govt adopt pro-poor land policy with interests of marginalised groups

• Lobbing Govt for law on customary land & its procedures

LAND IS LIFE, LETS PROTECT IT!

PRESETED BY: E.C. Hatimbula, District Coordinator,

Monze Zambia

EMAIL:

landalliance01@gmail.com/hatimbulaeslon@yahoo.c

om,

Website: www.zla.org.zm