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Introduction: Understanding Xenophobia in Africa Read chapter Read first chapter

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

12. Zimbabwe and the Quest for Development: Rethinking the Xeno-Ethnophobia Tint and the Land Reform Question

Authors : Lukong Stella Shulika, Stella Chewe Sabi

Published in: The Political Economy of Xenophobia in Africa

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The imperative to emancipate the black majority citizenry from the imbalances and injustices of unequal access to land inherited from the colonial regime in post-1980, saw Zimbabwe attempting different phases of land reforms. Major amongst Zimbabwe’s land reform strategies was the radical Fast Track Land Reform Programme of 2000, which allowed the unlawful seizure and redistributing of the country’s white commercial owned farms to new black citizenry occupants of African descent. Not only was the reform process effected with arrant disregard for the rule of law, but it was also clouded with antagonisms, severe human rights violations, and xenophobic repercussions, particularly against the white Zimbabwe citizens of European ancestry. This chapter investigates Zimbabwe’s post-2000 land reform programme with a particular focus on identifying the prejudices that tinted the implementation process and its implications on the country’s development prospects. The chapter characterises the prejudices as “xeno-ethnophobic” towards white commercial farm owners, while noting that this analytical dimension of the management of post-2000 land reform strategy in Zimbabwe’s has not been detailed by most researchers and scholarships.

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previous chapter The Xenophobia-Coloniality Nexus: Zimbabwe’s Experience
next chapter Xenophobia and the Paradox of Regionalism in Africa: The West African Experience
Footnotes
1
This Act, among other provisions, decreed the legal basis for land and resource distribution measures or what was termed white land policy because of the unequitable land allocation that favoured the whites over the indigenous black population (Herbst 1990).
 
2
Referring to the citizens of Zimbabwe, the terms black people and citizens of African descent, and white people and citizens of European ancestry, are used interchangeably in this chapter. While the chapter does not seek to delve into the discourse of who is an African, it however notes that white people of European ancestry, though now citizens of Africa, Zimbabwe as the case in point of this chapter remain popularly perceived, especially through utterances as non-Africans and immigrants.
 
3
A failed state as per the Foreign Policy’s ‘Failed States Index’, is characterised by several indicators, such as economic, social and political inadequacies affecting the functionality of the state. Implicit from Robert I. Rotberg’s (2003) chapter on Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators, a failed state can be defined as that which can no longer perform its primary responsibilities of providing security, education and governance to its populace due to extreme poverty or violence, corruption, poor governance, lack of the rule of law, declining economy and socio-political marginalisation and inequality, and unaccountable government.
 
4
Racially is derived from racism, which in simple terms refer to the expression and manifestation of discrimination, antagonism or prejudice against/towards other humans beings on the basis of their race or ethnicity. So, while xenophobia and racism have two separate meanings, they are somehow interlinked, especially as both are fallout of intolerance, hostilities and hatred towards foreigners/the others.
 
5
Though note is also taken that pre-independence white land system historically accorded the white minority the authorised means to dominate the country’s main productive resources to the exclusion of the indigenous black population.
 
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Metadata
Title
Zimbabwe and the Quest for Development: Rethinking the Xeno-Ethnophobia Tint and the Land Reform Question
Authors
Lukong Stella Shulika
Stella Chewe Sabi
Copyright Year
2018
Book
The Political Economy of Xenophobia in Africa

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64896-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-64897-2

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64897-2_12