Blood and Soil: Land, Politics and Conflict Prevention in Zimbabwe and South Africa
Brussels/Pretoria |
17 Sep 2004
Tensions over land and race, which have already contributed much to Zimbabwe's political and economic collapse, are rising in South Africa as well. New approaches are needed if they are not to push tempers to the boiling point across all southern Africa.
Blood and Soil: Land, Politics and Conflict Prevention in Zimbabwe and South Africa*, a new book-length report released today by the International Crisis Group, offers those approaches along with a detailed analysis of the issues. The product of intensive field research with widespread consultations ranging from farm workers to senior government officials, Blood and Soil examines the challenges of land policy and redistribution in both countries and places them within their social, political, economic and historical contexts.
Resolving the challenge of land will be central to getting Zimbabwe back on its feet when that nation eventually experiences a change of government.
"For all the understandable international outrage over seizures of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, the biggest losers of the land program have been black Zimbabweans -- black farm workers, black members of the opposition, and all those who were not part of the ruling party elite", says John Norris, Special Adviser to the President of ICG. "There are tremendous historical injustices that need to be dealt with in both Zimbabwe and South Africa, but Zimbabwe has demonstrated the deadly dangers of exploiting land redistribution for blatantly political ends".
Blood and Soil provides a balanced assessment of the claims and counterclaims about responsibility for the catastrophic situation in Zimbabwe and offers practical policy suggestions for ways forward by identifying the contours of a post-Mugabe land approach.
Blood and Soil also provides a comprehensive agenda for reinvigorating the land reform process in South Africa.
"South Africa still has time to get it right on land reform and avoid future land-related violence and insecurity", says John Prendergast, also a Special Adviser with ICG. "The government, farmers, and donors can take practical steps to accelerate the current land reform program, contribute to poverty reduction, and reduce landlessness. The stakes are enormous, with implications throughout southern Africa".