The Land Reform Deception: Political Opportunism in Zimbabwe's Land Seizure Era

The Land Reform Deception looks at a particularly contentious period in Zimbabwe's recent history, from 2000-2008, when the government seized commercial farms using illegal and violent methods against a largely unarmed population of farmers and farm workers. Robert Mugabe's government began the seizures on a small, targeted scale in an effort to suppress political opposition groups, but they soon escalated into an out-of-control frenzy targeting all farms in the country.The state claimed that the seizures occurred in response to a public cry for land redistribution and to rectify colonial-era injustices, and were part of a structured land reallocation program. Yet, land was often distributed ad hoc to those with little or no farming experience. As a result, agricultural output contracted and inflation and unemployment rose dramatically in what became a social and economic disaster for the country. In The Land Reform Deception, Charles Laurie asks why the state would target its own agricultural industry using such violent methods and risk such dire consequences. He also seeks to uncover the major actors and their motivations and strategies. Laurie argues that the seizure of the most valuable farms was largely carried out by politically influential individuals for financial and political gain, rather than to address historical injustices. In fact, he finds that the scale on which the farm invasions were carried out and the violent methods used were never part of a planned government land policy. Indeed, Laurie shows that Mugabe initially opposed the seizures, knowing that they would wreck the economy, only to later support them in order to appease his supporters and retain political power. Incorporating unprecedented empirical evidence gathered from in-depth interviews with senior politicians, members of the secretive Central Intelligence Organization, the military and police, along with farmers and farm workers who were targeted during the invasions, The Land Reform Deception strips away official explanations and delves into the political and economic drivers that triggered the seizure of commercial farms in Zimbabwe.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Figures Tables Abbreviations and Acronyms Map of Zimbabwe Liberation War and Gukurahundi Timeline Land Seizure Era Timeline Land Seizure Era Violence and Farmer Eviction Timeline 1. Overview of the Land Seizure Era 2. ZANU-PF's Land Redistribution Gamble 3. Mugabe Targets Agriculture: Land Reform or Political Gimmick? 4. Strategy behind Farm Seizures 5. Suppressing the MDC 6. Seizing Land and Agri-Property 7. Moving onto Farms: The Emergence of Extortion and "Protection" Schemes 8. Farmer Eviction Methods 9. Impact on Commercial Agriculture Production Conclusion Appendix A. Research Methodology Appendix B. Overview of Interview Respondents Appendix C. Land Seizure Era Flowcharts Notes References Index

About the Author :
Charles Laurie was born and raised in Zimbabwe and has had a lifelong interest in the agricultural politics of the region. With an advanced Master's degree from the University of Cambridge and a doctorate from the University of Oxford, he has dedicated his academic career to understanding the political, social and economic influences that undermine development in southern Africa.

Review :
"Demonization diminishes informed criticism, and the case of the Zimbabwe land seizures is exactly one where the deep underlying animations, opportunisms and responses have been obscured by generalized condemnation. Charles Laurie provides a significant service by studying in considerable depth and detail key aspects of the land issue. His work is profoundly illuminating and allows us to build explanation and understanding of what happened in Zimbabwe, before moving on to critique and criticism." - Stephen Chan OBE, SOAS University of London "In this thought-provoking book, Charles Laurie presents a wealth of new empirical information that challenges the way in which we have understood land seizures in Zimbabwe. It is a great testament to the value of in-depth fieldwork, and will inspire fresh debates on a number of important topics." -Nic Cheeseman, Associate Professor in African Politics, Oxford University "The Land Reform Deception opens up new debates on the fast-track land reform process in Zimbabwe. As well as insights from farmers and farm workers, Laurie has also extracted information from a remarkable range of government officials and state protagonists, whose voices are largely missing from the current literature on the topic. This book is important reading for all those who seek deeper understanding of events in Zimbabwe since the turn of the millennium." -Rory Pilossof, University of the Free State, and author of The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Farmers' Voices from Zimbabwe "Charles Laurie's provides a timely and very informative contribution to the scholarly debate concerning this process. Laurie's book builds a case to challenge a dominant portrayal of land redistribution in Zimbabwe that claims it was (what Laurie calls) a 'genuine exercise' to address colonial-era racialized land inequalities: a portrayal not only promoted by the Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe and its supporters but also one that has been given credence by recent scholarship." --African Studies Review "Laurie recounts modern Zimbabwean land seizures through the lens of career politicians, war veterans, and opportunistic thieves. While the topic, nepotistic land distribution, and the subject, Zimbabwe, are far from new ground, Laurie's text enriches the existing literature with gripping testimonies from politicians, farmers, Zimbabwe's internal intelligence service, the military, and police officers. He confidently challenges the assumption that Mugabe's government deliberately redistributed all of Zimbabwe's seized land." --African Studies Quarterly "Laurie's book is a moving account of the controversies of Zimbabwe's land reform exercise. [It] is a refreshing read, well researched and with evidence that it was written by someone with detailed knowledge of the turbulent story of Zimbabwe's land question." -- Joyline Takudzwa Kufandirori,i Boekresensiesr "[A]n an important scholarly examinationELThis is a work by a political scientist, but it will have immediate value for historians, and not just for historians of Southern Africa but also for anyone working on the land dynamics of settler societies in the twenty-first century." -- Timothy Scarnecchia, The American Historical Review "[I]mpressively documented." - Brown Political Review