IRIN Web Special on land reform in Southern Africa

Historically marginalised, Zimbabwe's commercial farm workers complain that they have again been disadvantaged by the country's land reform programme.

Variously known as the Third Chimurenga (liberation struggle) or "jambanja" (direct action), the government's fast-track programme was launched in 2000 with the stated objective of finally correcting the historical imbalance in land ownership. It has involved the acquisition of 11 million hectares from white landowners (an estimated 90 percent of the commercial farmers) for redistribution to an estimated 300,000 new settlers and about 30,000 black commercial farmers.

"Because the fortunes of the workers were intimately tied up with those of their 'white bosses', they bore the brunt of the consequences of the acquisition of white-owned farms," said a report prepared for a farm workers' NGO, the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ).

Prior to land reform, an estimated 320,000 to 350,000 farm workers were employed on commercial farms owned by about 4,500 white farmers. Their dependents numbered around 2 million - more than 20 percent of the national population. By the beginning of 2003, only about 100,000 farm workers were still employed on the farms, the report estimated.

"What has happened is that two-thirds of the original number have lost their jobs and are really living from hand to mouth," Lloyd Sachokonye, the author of the report, told IRIN. "There doesn't appear to be a programme to address this insecurity, this deterioration in their conditions."

Not only are they jobless, in many cases it has also meant they have lost their entitlement to housing on the farms, basic social services and subsidised food. Those who have not left for urban centres have been forced to subsist through gold panning or piece work on the newly settled farms. But two consecutive years of drought, and the reduced output of the new settlers, has meant their food security has been precarious.

The humanitarian community has been concerned over the plight of the farm labourers, but has had only limited access. "There are still difficulties in accessing the former commercial farming areas, and so we still cannot be sure of the extent of vulnerability among either the former farm workers or the newly resettled small-scale farmers," UN Humanitarian Coordinator J. Victor Angelo told IRIN in early June.

Farm workers have historically been an "invisible" class in Zimbabwe. Post-independence literature stressed the low wages, poor housing and "quasi-feudal and paternalistic relationships" between landowners and farm labourers. Jambanja coincided with President Robert Mugabe's defeat in a referendum on constitutional reform, and the rise of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, publically backed by white farmers. Only a small percentage of farm workers were awarded plots by the government under the fast-track programme.

"Farm invasions sought to discourage political participation by farm workers. They were subjected to intimidation and violence, and were deliberately marginalised as a group in land resettlement," the FCTZ report said.

Originally from Mozambique or Malawi, even though the majority of farm workers have been in the country for three generations they are generally regarded as non-Zimbabweans. Their labour union has had difficulty in organising its members, who are isolated on the farms and spread across the country.

"There has been a strain of xenophobia from among the politicians," suggested Sachikonye. "The powerlessness of the farm workers meant that the calculation was that, when it came to the crunch, their response would not be significant."

Only about a quarter of farm workers received severance packages from the commercial land owners, which did not stretch very far. "After a week it was back to us looking for food, looking for jobs," Gift Muti of the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers' Union told IRIN. Women, who were usually contracted on a seasonal basis without full benefits, often missed out on the packages altogether.

According to the FCTZ report, up to 50 percent of farm workers stayed on the farms, even after losing their jobs, resulting in a rise in squatter camps. Coping strategies have included the search for piece-work on other farms, but income is irregular and limited. With the closure of farm schools, there has also been an increase in child labour.

Muti said the relationship between the workers who stayed, and the new settlers (who are themselves poor), has varied. Some of the settlers have tried to be fair, others have been exploitative, demanding labour but refusing to pay the minimum wage, or charging extortionate rates for rent and utilities.

"From time to time there are reports of conflict over housing or strips of land - it's a fairly fluid situation - but one doesn't get the sense that it's worsened, so there is a possibility of some kind of mutual understanding," Sachikonye noted.

Farm workers have called for a humanitarian food aid intervention programme, and a recognised stake in land reform from the government.

"We are not against the land reform programme. We are advocating for workers to be given first preference, considering the skills we have acquired over the years," Muti said.

[Ends]