Journal of Social Development in Africa (1986), 1, 35-42 
The Role of Resettlement in Social Development in 
Zimbabwe 
SAMGEZA + 
The resettlement programme is a post liberation strategy of the planned and 
organised movement of the poor peasantry onto state-acquired former 
commercial land, previously reserved for white farmers. Its immediate focus 
has been on the problems of the rural poor where: 
a) Thousands of families in the communal areas (CAs) were and are still 
landless. 
b) Many more have land that is too small or ecologically unsuitable, so that 
they can not produce enough to survive. 
c) Others because of impoverishment, war or the shortage of grazing, lack 
adequate ox draft power. Neither do they have enough cattle manure to 
fertilise their arable holdings. 
Historically large tracts of land were alienated by colonial governments to 
white farmers or private companies running estates and plantations. The 
processes were deliberately designed for the peasantry to suffer acute land 
shortages and pressures and become cheap migrant wage labourers. Added to 
this, the impact of the colonial army's notorius " Operation Turkey" during the 
war of national liberation was to deliberately destroy the already limited 
agricultural capacity of the CAs in order to deny guerrillas food. It is 
estimated that between 1 and 2 million people were displaced from the CAs. 
Some were herded into so-called "protected villages" and others had to flee 
from war zones to towns and neighbouring countries. The peasantry thus 
supported the liberation war in order to recover their lost land. At independence, 
therefore, resettlement became the instrument for land redistribution in favour 
of the landless and displaced rural poor. This particular land reform was seen 
as a compelling argument for structural changes in agrarian relations but more 
importantly, as a solution to the short term crisis of expectation of the 
peasantry, by the new popularly elected government 
Conceptually, therefore, resettlement aims at redistributing land in order to 
restructure Zimbabwe's inherited agrarian economy of unequal distribution of 
wealth, land, income, other opportunities and resources. In correcting the 
imbalances between the two subsectors of agriculture — commercial and 
peasant — resettlement attempts to provide alternative productive employ- 
* A paper presented at a seminar on 'Social Work and Social Development', School of Social 
Work, Harare, September, 1984. 
+ Sam Geza, former Director of Resettlement, Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rural 
Development, P.Bag 7726, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Sam Geza 
it opportunities for the rural poor to improve their living standards and 
isform peasant agriculture. The various original models of resettlement are 
stinually being redesigned to create conditions leading to the socialisation of 
iculture and its integration with the national economy, 
rhus, Government's undeclared policy on the national question has been to 
w the new land schemes as establishing new, cohesive, progressive and 
lamic communities out of the many individuals from different parts of the 
intry — all of whom are from the poor sector of the peasantry, 
fhis follows from the selection procedures which identify the landless and 
al poor as individuals rather than socially homogenous groups (e.g. clans, 
sftancies, etc.) as targets for resettlement The schemes themselves are 
«cted to be agriculturally and economically viable. Settlers are not 
hided from the benefits of scientific and technological progress such as high 
(ding seed varieties, artificial insemination and so forth as was the case 
ler colonialism. The farmers also benefit from economic advances in the 
n of higher producer prices for crops and other agricultural products, 
iroved marketing and credit facilities which were denied them before. As 
land schemes are amenable to adopting improved methods of farming, 
;eted cash incomes are higher at $400 per family per annum over and above 
isistence compared with less than $200 for the peasantry in CAs.The 
tern of administration and management is democratic as local leaders are 
popularly elected. There are no chiefs and village headmen in resettlement 
as. The resettlement processes and procedures therefore discourage 
ntaneity of settlements and attempts to revert back to traditional methods 
I systems of agriculture and administration. 
[Tie major short- and long-term objectives of the resettlement programme 
lude: provision of relief of pressure on over-populated land; extension and 
movement of the base for productive agriculture in the peasant farming 
tor; and improvement of the standard of living of the largest and poorest 
tor of the population of Zimbabwe. They also include the amelioration of 
plight of people who have been adversely ^affected by the war and their 
abilitation. As well as provision, at the lower end of the scale, of 
lortunities for people who have no land and who are without employment 
[ may therefore be classed as destitute; and the bringing of abandoned or 
ler-utilised land into full production as one facet of implementing an equitable 
icy of land redistribution." The expansion or improvement of the infrastructure 
[ services that are needed to promote the growth of people and of economic 
duction; the achievement of national stability and progress in a country that 
y recently emerged from the turmoil of war, and that resettlement in all its 
ns (core estates and outgrowers, agricultural collectives, individual settlers, 
) should eliminate the country's dependence on the numerically small, but 
momically strong, large scale commercial farm sector. It should be in a 
ition to play a similar role to that of the commercial sector, in the long run,
The Role of Resettlement in Social Development in Zimbabwe 
in the spheres of agricultural investment, employment, production, yields, 
food security, foreign exchange earning and saving etc.; and be able to realise 
autonomous self-management and self-government with government workers 
only playing an advisory role; with the ultimate goal being to achieve the 
socialist transformation of agriculture. 
It thus became clear from the onset what the operational situation required if 
the agro-economic objectives of resettlement were to be achieved and the 
settler communities were going to be able to absorb fully the significant 
changes in their new social but unfamiliar environments. In other words, the 
criteria for evaluating the success of failure or the new land schemes would not 
only measure tangible economic costs and benefits, but would lay great stress 
on social returns as well. Rates of return on capital invested, increases in yields 
per unit area of land/labour, increases in marketed output, incomes per family 
etc. have to be counterposed with improvements in diet, health, life expectancy, 
literacy, skills etc. of the new communities on the other hand. But even 
more key to these socio-economic criteria, the failure or success of the 
programme depends on the ability of the disparate resettled communities to 
use the schemes and build upon them. This therefore called for the introduction 
of a settler development programme designed specifically for the social 
development needs of the settlers. 
The conceptual framework of resettlement had already been worked out by 
the colonial civil service but it had to be modified operationally to suit the new 
socio-economic order by the incoming Government workers. Two fundamental 
preconditions had to be met in the new land schemes. Firstly, 
government agents of change in the development process not only needed 
technical expertise, but somehow, they also had to be understanding and 
competent social workers. The resettlement programme involves a package 
deal composed of various inputs that are amenable to controlled management, 
e.g. 1 classroom/teachers house per 20 families^ establishment grant per 0,5 
ha/family, 1 borehole per 20 families, 5 ha net arable per family, etc. 
The management units modelled along the technical-commercial type, and 
their associated economies of scale benefits, do provide a solid foundation for 
the physical and the agro-economic development of the schemes. For the allround 
success of the programme, however, these management inputs have to 
be supplemented and complimented by social extension type inputs which are 
nothing more than various aspects of social engineering. The importance of the 
dual role of government agents — being technical experts and social workers 
simultaneously — can best be appreciated by considering that the resettlement 
programme has never engaged professionally trained social workers to provide 
an input into the social development of settlers. 
Secondly, arising from the experiences gained during the war of national 
liberation in the liberated and semi-liberated zones, it was absolutely essential 
to organise and mobilise the settlers on various levels on a democratic basis for
Sam Geza 
development to take place in the new land schemes. The settler development 
programme which the department of rural development has implemented to 
date has seen the settler human resources as key to the eradication of 
itinderdevelopment in these areas. Therefore, positive and progressive changes 
in settler values, attitudes, changing perceptions, consciousness and social 
^relations are a prerogative to the fulfilment of the socio-economic objectives of 
the resettlement programme. At every project, an elected scheme development 
"committee (SDC) has been established with sub-committees at village and area 
level. Within each committee, an executive heads sub-committees with 
Various responsibilities for agriculture, policital mobilisation, health, educa- 
%ion, women's and youth organisations, logistics, conservation of natural 
^resources, security, production, etc. The functions of the committees at 
Various levels differ considerably with the lower tiers dealing with day to day 
^problems and basic services to the community whilst the higher tiers take 
Responsibility for overall policy issues and finance. This has been the only way 
\3f accelerating the development of a community spirit and community living to 
"tenable each scheme to become a viable, cohesive and progressive rural 
unity. It is on this basis that settlers have been willing to work together 
^ o r the betterment of themselves, their families and local communities, through 
t h e i r own efforts in constructing primary and secondary schools and other 
Community facilities. 
Being capable of making their own decisions on any particular matter, they 
also able to take care of their own welfare. 
Furthermore, our settler development programme (the unsung song of 
Resettlement) has tried to foster a responsible and responsive settler leadership 
•JRfor two reasons. Firstly to pave the way for effective popular participation and 
^involvement in the development processes of the schemes. Secondly, in a bid 
too raise settler consciousness, self-organisation and power vis-a-vis bureau- 
"Csrats. In this context, the resettlement officers who manage schemes are 
***«equired to work themselves out of jobs by systematically and practically 
*Tiiandling over management functions to SDCs over time. Thereafter they move 
^fc«o new schemes to repeat the process ad infinitum. Formal and informal settler 
"Qtorganisations covering every facet of social activity have been created to suit 
t i t l e varying needs and circumstances prevailing in each scheme. 
These social organisations and structures have greatly facilitated the 
Settlers in decision making, and mobilisation of the human resources for self- 
Ibnelp, self-improvement, community spirit and community living. With these 
SBjpecialised sub-committees, the SDCs have also proved very useful channels 
tihrough which government and non-Government development services can be 
pwovided economically to the settlers — e.g. agricultural extension, credit, and 
anJl other forms of training. It is through these institutional structures that an 
urategration of resettlement schemes with communal areas will be realised 
wwhen the unified local government system is enforced in the near future.
The Role of Resettlement in Social Development in Zimbabwe 39 
The composition of the resettled communities in terms of their origins as at 
December 31st, 1983 was: 
62% 
15% 
6% 
3% 
9
1
%
% 
Ex communal areas 
Ex farm labourers 
Ex urban workers 
Inter Provincial migrants 
Returning refugees from neighbouring countries 
Ex "protected" villages 
Ex African Purchase Areas farmers 
(i) 
(") 
(iii) 
(iv) 
(v) 
(vi) 
(vii) 
Others* (viii) 3
1
%
% 
100% 
*Mainly exforeign migrant workers now married to Zimbabwean women. They qualify to be 
registered as Zimbabwean nationals but have not taken the necessary steps to change their 
nationalities because of ignorance or complex legal procedures. Most of them have been in 
the country for 10 to 20 years. 
With such a diversity of backgrounds and experience, there was no other 
way of establishing cohesive and progressive communities in the new land 
schemes except by adopting the settler development programme. Tendencies 
of the dependency syndrome were quite apparent at the initial stages of 
resettlement, particularly in the first twelve months. Certain sections of the 
settlers saw themselves as passive objects of development waiting to receive 
hand-outs from Government. Conversely, the same section of settlers viewed 
Govemmentworkers as the subjects and givers of all kinds ofaid This kind of 
self-pity and impotence had to be1 eliminated at the very beginning amongst the 
settlers through the settler development programme whose philosophy has 
been summarised in the following verse; 
If you give a hungry family a food hand-out 
The family will eat once. 
If you encourage the family to farm 
The family will eat for the rest of its life. 
If you are thinking a year ahead 
Grow a seasonal crop. 
If you are thinking ten years ahead 
Plant a tree and other perennial crops. 
If you are thinking one hundred years ahead 
Organise, mobilise and educate the people. 
By growing seasonal crops, you will harvest once 
By planting a tree and perennial crops you will harvest ten fold 
By organising, mobilising and educating the people 
You will harvest one hundred fold. 
It was thus possible at the earliest stage to forestall general disgruntled 
tendencies amongst the majority of settlers if promised aid did not materialise 
on time, or if the cost of pioneering resettlement became unacceptably high 
for others. The settler development programme provided the settlers with the
40 Sam Geza 
necessary confidence and motivation to make resettlement a success by 
urging them on under all kinds of difficulties and obstacles. 
In summary, it^can be said that resettlement has contributed to social 
development in Zimbabwe in the following ways: 
a) By encouraging new dynamic leadership in the new communities to prepare 
for more effective popular participation and involvement in development 
through the SDCs and repatterning of some traditional organisations and 
structures. In the process, the consciousness of settlers and their power vis-avis 
bureaucracy has been raised. 
b) By the development of physical resources such as cattle dips, handling pens, 
roads, schools, clinics, rural service centres, potable water supplies, improved 
housing, land clearing, small irrigation schemes, woodlots, conservation 
measures and so forth which assist the settlers in raising levels of agricultural 
production and productivity. Whilst there is limited communal production of 
crops, there is, however, a wide range of other projects and expanded 
production activities which are carried out by settlers. These include 
woodlots, gully reclamation, erection of paddocks and boundary fencing, 
construction of primary and secondary schools, small irrigation projects, 
repairs and maintenance of village borehole water supplies and improved 
housing. 
c) By the provision of facilities and services at reasonable distances from 
villages, e.g. borehole water, pre-school nurseries, mother and child care, 
woodlots for firewood, and compulsory schooling. These have positive 
implications for reducing the subordination of women. As a result, the 
consciousness of women in resettlement areas, their self-organisation and 
access to power and services are increasing much faster than in communal 
areas. 
d) By producing self-managing systems which enable settlers to make 
fundamental decisions on investment, distribution, organisational techniques, 
etc. This way, the development process is being popularly managed in line with 
the new social order. 
e) By enabling the new communities to assert their autonomy and influence in 
managing their relations' with the external environment, particularly in the 
labour and produce markets. Settlers and their communities are thus able to 
take overriding decisions on fundamental issues affecting their lives instead of 
being dictated to willy nilly by the outside world. 
f) By extending the community's control over its physical, socio-economic and 
political environment to overcome poverty, impotence, dependency and 
underdevelopment The settlers are being armed with the skills and knowledge 
in various spheres of life — leadership and organisation, agriculture and 
irrigation, soil and water conservation, repair and maintenance of boreholes, 
etc. — to bring nature to serve them. 
Resettlement has thus made a significant impact on social development in
The Role of Resettlement in Social Development in Zimbabwe 41 
the country. The impact of its contribution can best be appreciated after 
considering its achievements to date. By June 30,1984, a total of 37 Model A, 
152 Accelerated, 31 Model B and 1 Model C schemes in 48 of the country's 
District Council areas had been implemented. 28 800 out of a projected 
33 100 families had been allocated holdings. This means that approximately 
225 000 people were directly benefitting from the programme. The physical 
side of development had realised the following: 
4 000 km of village access roads opened. 
625 boreholes sunk 
89 wells dug. 
204 cattle dips/handling pens constructed. 
primary schools with 584 classrooms and teachers' houses built. 
12 secondary schools operating. 
113 clinics built and 6 others under construction. 
114 completed rural service centres and 9 under construction. 
On the social side, the existence of the extended family system is second 
only to the small scale irrigation schemes. A survey carried out by the 
Department on 31 of the Model A schemes indicates that the average family 
size is between 8 and 10 while it is 12 to 15 on small irrigation schemes, with 
the national average estimated at 6 to 7. Some 23% of the total population of 
the resettlement schemes consists of relatives and their dependents. This 
partly explains why in most resettlement schemes school enrolment is double 
what it is supposed to be. For other land schemes neighbouring on communal 
areas, children from there enrol at these schools. Residents of neighbouring 
communal and commercial farming areas also benefit from social and physical 
facilities in the schemes. 
All these social changes have taken place without the involvement of social 
workers. It is only in the last eighteen months or so that they have been brought 
in to help with two kinds of problems — drought relief and foreign aged 
destitutes who cannot be resettled. It is perhaps time that social workers are 
directly involved in articulating social development programmes for rural 
areas as well as evaluating those that are being currently implemented. 
As experts in developmental social work, they can make useful contributions 
to the solution of social problems that have been left unresolved in the 
land schemes so far and any new ones that will come up from time to time. 
In conclusion, it ought to be recognised that SDCs, in using and building on 
the new land schemes, face numerous problems. The SDCs have no legal 
standing and therefore lack legislative powers on internal matters. They have 
no financial resources of their own nor forms of taxation to raise funds for local 
administration or development projects. However, once the SDCs have been 
incorporated in the restructured and unified local government system, they will 
acquire the necessary legal powers to function as local authorities. At present 
the SDCs are not accountable to the settlers even though they have been
42 Sam Geza 
popularly elected. What they do is to replace the traditional representatives of 
the ancien regime at scheme level — the chiefs, village headmen, etc. They are 
popularly elected organs and thus have achieved a popular legitimacy. As 
such, SDCs have been convenient stop gap measures to fill the void of local 
authorities in resettlement areas. 
Once they have been elevated to the lower tiers of local government of 
village development committees (VTOCOs) and ward development committees 
(WARDCOs) SDCs will become institutions embodying elements of both the 
state apparatus and the peasantry. At that stage they will pose a problem of 
identity. Whom and what will they represent — the state or the peasants? What 
will be their relationship to land reform, to the state's declared intention of 
creating a socialist agriculture, and to the aspirations of the peasantry for land, 
equality and democracy? Will their leadership be taken over by rich peasants 
and traders who will in turn emasculate the movement through manipulation of 
gender and other groups? Or will the SDCs continue in their successful formal 
organisation of the settlers, as organs of self-management, self-rule, people's 
power and popular economic bodies in a socialist framework?