This article examines the role of local and non-local actors in water control in Mutambara Irrigation Scheme since the beginning of the scheme in 1912. It shows that deep-seated divisions within the community, which were ignored by outsiders coming to "help", have resurfaced. Colonial state intervention, showing high-handedness and ignorance of the social reality, under the guise of bringing "technical improvements" to this missionary-assisted local initiative, laid the foundation for a crisis in water management. The technical infrastructure has been poor throughout and has played its part in the crisis. The crisis became more apparent once the post-colonial state, in a spirit of democracy, withdrew from the scheme. A monetary donation intended to improve the physical infrastructure, provided the final push towards a full-blown crisis. The article argues that improvement in the performance of smallholder irrigation schemes lies not only in the technico-physical domain, but also in the socio-political one.
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