Zimbabwe's agrarian reform process: lessons or domino strategies?

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly fashionable to proffer all kind of lessons for a post-apartheid South Africa, not the least since the independence of Namibia in 1990 and as the geo-political colour of Southern Africa shifts under the new wave of peace initiatives throughout its formerly radical territories. Due to the crucial role played by the agrarian question in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle and the apparent "agricultural success" and related political calm that has marked the first 10 years of transition, as well as due to the existence of certain agrarian structural and socio-political "similarities" between Zimbabwe and South Africa, the former's experience has received post-apartheid prognostic attention. The usefulness of such comparative analysis depends, however, on the degree to which the Zimbabwean case is adequately portrayed and on an appropriate appreciation of the context before 1980 and during the last decade.