Secure tenure for communal land in transition

What is it about?

This article looks at ways in which communal area right-holders in Zimbabwe attempt to add security to their land rights when faced with altered circumstances. Apart from quasi-legal means such as ad hoc diagrams, which were beyond the scope of this article, two principal strands were found by which land right security is bolstered. First, investment in interpersonal ties (both with the living and the dead), and second, ceremonies for forging and maintaining links with land. For both, it was found that traditional practices have been bent and adapted pragmatically to suit contemporary contexts. Increased mobility and remoteness from rural homes has also given rise to a degree of abstraction (for example, the symbolic use in urban settings of soil or grain brought from communal areas). Where both custom and formal law co-exist pluralistically, custom has proved the more flexible of the two and, unless demonstrably better security is offered, it seems likely that custom will continue to be invoked and modified to provide security for new circumstances.

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Why is it important?

Between the extremes of communal and formal tenure lies a complex continuum where land rights are especially vulnerable. In order to assist right holders improve their security, we need to understand what strategies they use and recognise. This article explores one of the two key strands in land right security, namely the adaptation of traditional ceremonies to suit modern contexts.

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