AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	36. Between customs and state law: The dynamics of local law in sub-Saharan Africa
Paper ID	268
Author(s)	Jacobs, Carolien
Paper	No paper submitted
Abstract	This paper will deal with the way access to land has been regulated throughout history in a rural community in Angola. The settlement of Yumbi was founded in 1949 as one of the nuclei of the indigenous colonato of Caconda, part of the forced settlement schemes of the Portuguese government. Each settler was allotted 5 plots of land near the river and supposed to cultivate wheat. Agricultural labour was supervised by the Portuguese capatazes, who were responsible for local governance. At that moment, there was hardly a customary order in place. When, after several years, the settlers acquired more freedom to cultivate land for their own purposes, they made an agreement with the customary leader of an adjacent village allowing them to acquire privately hold land up-hill as well. Every household could take plots according to its needs until all ‘empty’ land was divided in the beginning of the 1960s. After that time, the most common way of obtaining land was through inheritance, lease or purchase according to customary rules. Meanwhile, in 1961 the first soba (traditional leader) was appointed by the people of Yumbi. Probably not coincidentally this was the same year in which the Portuguese government decreed a number of decentralisation measures. It is indicative for the continuous interwovenness of customary and statutory rule. After the departure of the Portuguese from the area and the following institutional void, the customary system became probably the most prominent power system in place. In 1980 however, the MPLA-government enforced its power on the local level by appointing a chefe, responsible for the entire sector of Yumbi. In practice, chefe and soba never strictly separated their functions and until today often work together. To most of the villagers there is no difference in applying to either chefe or soba in case of conflicts over land, although the soba generally seems to serve as an ‘obligatory passage point’ before other steps can be taken. During the long period of civil war in Angola people adapted the ‘rules’ of land access again. This change enabled also the Internally Displaced People (IDP’s) who were staying temporarily in the community to cultivate small pieces of land, without the original owners losing their long-term rights. Although no terms where set, no conflicts took place when the rules were changed again after the signing of the peace agreement and all land was given back to the original owners. Currently, access to land is regulated predominantly via customary rules and no large conflicts take place, whereas access is secured for every household. Although it is still rather unclear how the new land legislation - adopted in November 2004- will work out in practice, article 4e at least respects the rights of rural communities, thus again interweaving customary and statutory law.

Access to land in rural Angola: law and the customary