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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Internal displacement of ex farm workers and copying mechanisms in a rural informal settlement in Zimbabwe
| Panel |
37. Political Economies of Displacement in Southern Africa
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| Paper ID | 759 |
| Author(s) |
Magaramombe, Godfrey
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | The political and economic environment of Zimbabwe, a country which was once the second richest country in sub-Saharan Africa and politically stable, has been drastically deteriorating since the late 1990s. The annual inflation rate which is the highest in the world outside a war zone area is above 1200 percent and the country is characterized by shortages in basic commodities, fuel and foreign currency and regular power and water supply cuts. These prevailing conditions together with the 'Fast Track' Land Reform Programme which commenced in 2000 have resulted in population movements, both voluntary and forced.
Among those internally displaced is a large number of ex farm workers. About 150 000 (close to 750 000 people including their family members) were internally displaced by 2004. A very small percentage (less than one percent) of the former workers was resettled under the fast track programme. Others migrated to urban areas, communal areas, others moved into rural and peri urban informal settlements while the majority remained within the farm villages.
Former commercial farm workers have been deprived of their main source of regular cash income and means of livelihoods. About a fifth of the ex farm workers although born in Zimbabwe are descendants of Malawian, Mozambiquecan and Zambian parentage. Because of its origin this group has limited copying mechanisms as they do not have links with communal areas and can not benefit from extended family networks.
This paper is based on a rural informal settlement in one of Zimbabwe's provinces in Mashonaland. The resettlement named Chihwiti is resident to about 6 000 people from former commercial farming areas. The paper discusses livelihood strategies pursued by the ex farm worker families, extent of the level of integration into the larger community economic activities and representation in local structures. |
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