Agrarian and life style change in Zimbabwe: From colonization to the formation of government of national unity

Abstract

In a predominantly agricultural country like Zimbabwe, the problem of land reform has naturally been one of the most important subjects of political campaigning and economic turmoil. Zimbabwe’s land distribution was racially highly skewed towards whites before land reform and the status quo was not politically, socially or economically sustainable. This has been the state of affairs since the British reform of 1890. It is this inequitable distribution of land that prompted the black people to take up arms and fight for independence. At independence, the government of Zimbabwe decided to embark on the land reform programme. It is therefore of paramount importance not to overlook the events of the then Rhodesia at colonization through to the independent Zimbabwe at the Fast Track Land Reform stage. This article therefore provides the untold story of Zimbabwean agrarian change from colonial times to the present. It clearly explains how land rights of both the whites and the black Zimbabweans were damaged by the government of Rhodesia and later by the government of Zimbabwe.