Conciliatory whiteness: white farmers’ accommodations and responses to land reform in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe

Echoes From the Rocks: Contextualising Land Reform and Resettled Farmer Experiences in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe

“…This reflects broader changes in Zimbabwe's post-FTLRP dispensation, where local private agrarian capital and the demands of the smallholder farmers exert more influence in rural development than public investment and the large-scale, commercial-farming development of the past (Shonhe, 2019). Some white commercial farmers from our study sites have, since their evictions, moved higher up the value chain to establish butcheries and abattoirs; others have dropped out of agriculture, moved out of the country or passed away (see Nel, 2020). Only two white commercial cattle farmers remain, primarily because of their ongoing amicable relationships with their new neighbours and communal farmers (Nel, 2020).…”

“…The last five decades have been significant for agrarian changes within and across countries, showing continuities and discontinuities with the past (Borras, 2009), which is evident in the consolidating literature on land reform in Zimbabwe. This scholarship, prominent in Mashonaland, Masvingo and Manicaland, varies from studies of outcomes, processes and macro and structural issues (Alexander and Tendi, 2008;Anseeuw et al, 2012;Hanlon et al, 2012) to grounded, empirically based studies which dissect the 'multi-faceted realities' of land reform (Chaumba et al, 2003;Moyo and Yeros, 2005;Nel, 2020;Scoones et al, 2010). Most prominent amongst the latter have been contributions which seek to challenge all-encompassing narratives of agricultural failure to express a complex picture and varied gains (Hanlon et al, 2012;Scoones et al, 2010).…”

“…By 2003, notifications for white farmers to vacate properties were issued, but some white commercial farmers held out on the land until 2010 to 2012. A few remain uncontested (Nel, 2020). While ward 24 previously housed 18 properties with approximately 12 commercial farms, it now comprises 372 A1 farms and 11 A2s.…”

“…Some white commercial farmers from our study sites have, since their evictions, moved higher up the value chain to establish butcheries and abattoirs; others have dropped out of agriculture, moved out of the country or passed away (see Nel, 2020). Only two white commercial cattle farmers remain, primarily because of their ongoing amicable relationships with their new neighbours and communal farmers (Nel, 2020). Several black farmers remain in the study ward 23 with 99-year leases on council farms they obtained in the 1980s alongside their more recently resettled counterparts.…”

“…There has been a particular surge of papers since 2016 on diverse reform themes as they relate to: radical social transformation (Mazwi et al, 2017;Murisa, 2016); persistent elite capture (Mazwi and Mudimu, 2019;Mazwi et al, 2018); new patterns of rural development (Shonhe, 2019); traditional authority (Dande and Mujere, 2019); and food security (Mangwanya and Manyeruke, 2019). Studies also explore impacts for differentiated social groups, including farmworkers (Hartnack, 2017;Scoones et al, 2019b), youth (Nyamupingidza, 2018;Scoones et al, 2019a), white farmers (Nel, 2020) and actors entering contract arrangements over land utilisation and commodity production (Mazwi et al, 2020;Sachikonye, 2016). As in other contexts where globalising or nationalising processes come into friction with local realities (Tsing, 2011) it is increasingly clear that highly variable outcomes, diverse challenges and surprising successes and results are experienced in varied localised contexts (Fontein, 2015;Scoones et al, 2012;Spierenburg, 2016).…”