Zimbabwe inherited around 1,5 million land-mines, mainly anti-personnel mines laid by security forces during the liberation war. These are in seven minefields, covering 766 kms along the Zambian and Mozambican borders. Efforts to clear these mines began in 1980, but so far have covered only 10% of the minefields. They run mostly alongside communal lands, where fencing and warning signs have largely been destroyed or removed, with devastating results. The paper looks at the history of laying the minefields, and the present status of each of the major minefields. Finally, it points to the prohibitive costs of clearing this dangerous legacy now facing independent Zimbabwe
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