Davidson and Purohit: The Zimbabwean Human Rights Crisis: A Collaborative Approach to International Advocacy YALE HUMAN RIGHTS & DEVELOPMENT L.J. [Vol. 7 There can be no question that the system of land ownership in place in Zimbabwe at independence was grossly inequitable. It has been estimated that about 6000 white commercial farmers owned 15.5 million hectares of land, while 8500 small-scale farmers owned only 1.4 million hectares, and about 700,000 households of black, communal farmers survived off 16.4 million hectares. 9 In addition, the land comprising the communal farms was generally less suitable for farming than that owned by the large-scale commercial farmers. The independence constitution negotiated with Great Britain had restricted land tranfers to those made on a willing buyerwilling seller basis and paid for in sufficient amount. Thus, for ten years the land reform process had proceeded slowly, but in a relatively orderly manner. During the 1990s, there was even less progress in the transfer and settlement process. However, in 2000, immediately following the government's defeat in the constitutional referendum, a new "fast-track" program was launched and between 2000 and the end of 2002, the government had acquired an estimated eleven million hectares of land formerly owned by white commercial farmers. This acquisition was achieved by occupation by groups of "war veterans"10 and other government-sponsored agents, and was marked by considerable violence and coercion. While Mugabe and his government have trumpeted the fast-track land reform program as the righting of historical injustices and the fulfilment of liberation for the black majority in Zimbabwe, the reality of the process is one of disempowerment, loss of livelihood, and corruption. Many of those allocated small areas of land under the program have been unable to take up residence and farm the land productively due to lack of resources and infrastructure, rendering much of this land fallow. As a result, farm productivity has collapsed and the economy has gone into free-fall. Black farm workers, who at independence constituted twenty to twenty-five percent of Zimbabwe's workforce and supported roughly two million men, women and children, have lost their means of survival. Large numbers of farm workers and their families were displaced from their homes, and also lost access to vital resources such as schools, health-care, electricity and water. Significantly, less than five percent of the black farm-workers were themselves allocated land under the fast-track program. 1 Nevertheless, the government has managed successfully to exploit the issue of land reform in order to evade criticism at a sub-regional, regional and even international level. The implementation of the fast-track land program was timed 9 See Lloyd M. Sachikonye, The Situation of Commerical Farm Workers After Land Reform in Zimbabwe (Mar. 2003), at http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/dOO00359/index.php. 10 Members of the black majority population who fought during the liberation struggle became known as "war veterans" and formed various groups to advance their interests. Some of these war veterans have been involved in farm occupations and acts of violence, having been promised land by the Zanu-PF government. Sometimes, however, those referred to as "war veterans" never in fact participated in the liberation war and are, indeed, too young to have been involved in the war. 11 See Sachikonye, supra note 10, at 66. Published by Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository, 2004 5