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The issue of land reform illustrates well the problems in achieving the goal of economic redistribution. The U.S. and other industrialized countries want the Zimbabwean, Namibian, and South African post-apartheid governments to pay a fair market price for underutilized land that is willingly offered. This sounds fair enough--until you consult history. For example, in America, after the war of independence, the new U.S. government simply confiscated land from the Tories, such as Lord Baltimore's and Lord Fairfax's vast estates (Baltimore, MD, and Fairfax County, VA). A Zimbabwean study of land reforms around the world found that no country, except the Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe (until recently), paid fair market prices for land. Zimbabwe paid market prices through 1999 for the redistributed land (about 3.6 million hectares). In most countries, land that governments redistributed was commonly devalued by political tactics--such as strikes, land invasions, and high taxes--designed to encourage owners to sell. In other countries, land was simply confiscated.
When the U.S. assisted South Korea and Taiwan in agrarian reform, American aid provided hard currency to pay for the parcels that were distributed in the land reform programs. And the U.S. army accompanied the South Korean army in enforcing the removal of the former landowners. Such forceful policies were considered major successes against the spread of communism among the landless and malnourished masses.
Why the double standard for Southern Africa?Isn't the inequity of land distribution a legacy of apartheid? Not only have the countries of the region had to honor debt incurred by the white minority regimes (in spite of Jubilee 2000 efforts), they must now also pay a fair price for land on the current market. No international agency has offered the sums needed to pay a fair market price or to assist in the settling of new farmers.
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Those who claim that the current government has had 20 years since independence to redistribute land forget that apartheid South Africa regularly sent commando raids into Zimbabwe in the 1980s. Until 1992, Zimbabwe was engaged militarily in supporting Mozambique against the Renamo army, which was trained, financed, and led by apartheid South Africa. In fact, soon after independence in 1980, the Mugabe government did begin to redistribute land, averaging 430,000 ha/year from 1980-84. The Zimbabwean government might have accelerated redistribution had it pursued other tactics, such as high tax rates on underutilized land.
Another factor accounting for the delayed land reform program in Zimbabwe is the fact that some of the largest landholders in Zimbabwe are South African corporations, such as Anglo-American. This would have made it particularly difficult to pursue full-scale land reform before South African political apartheid was dismantled in 1994.
In addition, the government had become convinced that the international community would offer little funding to back its demand for a land purchase program. The U.S., for example, has given no funds for land reform in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans remember that in 1976, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger pledged $1.5 billion for the Zimbabwe Development Fund to assist with land reform after independence. Part of the reason for the pledge--which was never honored--was to help end the war and to compensate for the history of U.S. support of the white minority regime.
International experts estimate it would take about $40 billion to redistribute land, with "market price" compensation and with providing inputs to new farmers. By 2000, Zimbabwe had received $45 million from donors. Even if all conditionalities were honored by the government, international support does not begin to address the multi-billion dollar cost. Source
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posted 19 June 2006 04:26 AM
