+44 330 818 7254Didmus Dewa
The government of Zimbabwe embarked on a Fast Track Land Resettlement Program since 2000 under the leadership and influence of ZANU PF. However political developments post 2000 era saw the rise to power of Movement for Democratic Change and the subsequent power sharing agreement between the two parties in 2008. This agreement opened a unique political arrangement called the Government of National Unity (GNU) between the two parties. The parties have shared different portfolios in government and the political bickering is evident even on funding of agriculture. The two parties offer diverse policy options to agrarian development and thus they have parked the land issue in the GNU era. This paper seeks to point out the dangers of ignoring FTRP effects especially in the GNU era. The FTLRP in Zimbabwe impacted on the economy, food security, education, politics, environment, infrastructure and social services. There are many factors militating against FTLRP undertaken by the ZANU PF government and parking the issue simply because opposed political parties are in a temporary coalition agreement is treasonous for Zimbabwe ‘s agrarian reform. There are issues that emerged from the decade long agrarian revolution and political bickering has but negatively affected agriculture development. The research is qualitative as the author undertook focus group discussions with resettled farmers, carried out observations as well as in-depth interviews with the Department of Land Resettlement (informants had a national scope) and a Provincial Chief Lands Officer. The findings are evidence based and it is the conclusion of this paper that ignoring the effects is treasonous as the impact of FTLRP need to be addressed with a view that the exercise was pro-poor and a significant stride towards development. Africans need to own resources in order to participate in the development process. The FTLRP in Zimbabwe is irreversible but the manner in which it was carried out needs to be corrected hence this paper‘s call for Agrarian redress. Ignoring agriculture in Zimbabwe is an antidote of develop
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