IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/qeh/qehwps/qehwps143.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Losing the Plot: The Strategic Dismantling of White Farming in Zimbabwe 2000-2005

Author

Listed:
  • Angus Selby (QEH)

Abstract

This paper examines the dismantling of the white farming sector in Zimbabwe after 2000. It argues that although ZANU PF portrayed farm invasions as a demonstrable effort towards populist land reforms, the 'fast-track' strategy was primarily one of political survival, and that this is evident in the pattern of land invasions and land allocations. Farm invasions quickly evolved into a systematic and methodical purge of commercial farms, to undermine support for the MDC from farmers and farm workers. Local contexts and local politics shaped the nature of local invasions, but the overall program was centrally endorsed and centrally co-ordinated. The reallocation of farms and assets were strategically geared towards placating key groups and key individuals within ZANU PF's increasingly militarised patronage system. Finally, this paper explores the reactions, counter strategies and patterns of collapse within the white farming sector. It illustrates how the community and its institutions fragmented along established planes of historical division, re-emphasising the significance of differentiation among farmers, throughout their history.

Suggested Citation

  • Angus Selby (QEH), "undated". "Losing the Plot: The Strategic Dismantling of White Farming in Zimbabwe 2000-2005," QEH Working Papers qehwps143, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:qeh:qehwps:qehwps143
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://workingpapers.qeh.ox.ac.uk/RePEc/qeh/qehwps/qehwps143.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:taf:revape:v:32:y:2005:i:104-105:p:341-357 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Kinsey, Bill H., 2004. "Zimbabwe's Land Reform Program: Underinvestment in Post-Conflict Transformation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1669-1696, October.
    3. Carolyn Jenkins, 1997. "Economic objectives, public sector deficits and macroeconomic stability in Zimbabwe," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/1997-14, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Carolyn Jenkins, 1997. "Economic objectives, public sector deficits and macroeconomic stability in Zimbabwe," CSAE Working Paper Series 1997-14, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Angus Selby (QEH), "undated". "Radical Realignments: The Collapse of the Alliance between White Farmers and the State in Zimbabwe 1995-2000," QEH Working Papers qehwps144, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Angus Selby (QEH), "undated". "From Uneven Ground: The Undermining of the Alliance Between Commercial Farmers and the State in Zimbabwe 1990 – 1996," QEH Working Papers qehwps142, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    3. Konrad Hentze & Gunter Menz, 2015. "“ Bring Back the Land ”—A Call to Refocus on the Spatial Dimension of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Tara McIndoe-Calder, 2011. "Network Effects and Land Redistribution: A Natural Experiment in Zimbabwe," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp352, IIIS.
    5. B. Ikubolajeh Logan & George Tengbeh & Brilliant Petja, 2012. "Towards a reorientation in land reform: From a market to locality-driven approach in South Africa’s land restitution programme," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 12(2-3), pages 173-191, July.
    6. Kate Bird & Martin Prowse, 2008. "Vulnerability, Poverty and Coping in Zimbabwe," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-41, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Chimhowu, Admos & Hulme, David, 2006. "Livelihood dynamics in planned and spontaneous resettlement in Zimbabwe: Converging and Vulnerable," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 728-750, April.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:qeh:qehwps:qehwps143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: IT Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/qehoxuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.