THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES

NAME : SILUMBA MERCY NCHIMUNYA

COMPUTER NUMBER : 18052959

COURSE CODE : HIS 4110

LECTURER : N.M NAMWANYI

TASK : ASSIGNMENT THREE

DUE DATE : 16TH MAY, 2022

POSTAL ADDRESS : CHASA SECONDARY SCHOOL, P/BAG 2,

SINDA

CELL NUMBERS : 0973600535 / 0963972118

EMAIL : msilumb@gmail.com

QUESTION: Critically analyze postcolonial land policies in either, Malawi, Zambia, or

Zimbabwe. To what extent have these policies been successful in addressing problems over land
inherited from colonial rule?
The question of land reform remains high on the Malawi government’s agenda even though it has
been on the table since the attainment of independence in 1964. The issue of land tenure patterns
and ownership in Malawi is clearly an emotive one since land is the most critical productive
resource which, for the vast majority, is the sole basis for their livelihoods. This is underscored by
the fact that Malawi has pursued an agriculturally-driven development strategy since
independence and this is likely to remain as such at least for the foreseeable future. However,
instead of rectifying the adverse effects of the colonial land policies, the post-independence
agricultural strategy pursued for nearly four decades merely exacerbated the land tenure patterns
and ownership. The reforms that were implemented to anchor the postcolonial agricultural
development strategy did not represent any break with the past, but rather reflected almost
wholesale continuity with the colonial framework governing land tenure patterns and ownership;
in essence, the postcolonial elites simply stepped into the shoes of the departing white settlers.
This essay their aims to critically analyze postcolonial land policies in Malawi. The essay will
further look at the extent these policies have been successful in addressing problems over land
inherited from colonial rule. Having discussed on the subject matter, a summary will be drawn.

To understand land policies in Malawi, it is important to look at brief background of land policies
in precolonial Malawi. This is the country found in central Africa and is a former British colony.
The country has the population of s about the same as that of Zambia, 19 783 if not slightly higher
and it is about 94 280 Square kilometres whose land areas is half covered by water. This
population is predominantly rural (85%). The population density is the highest in Central Africa
and is about 203, this therefore makes the land issue critical.1

When the British colonized the country, they introduced a number of land policies that are still
visible today. This is the reason why colonial and postcolonial land policies in Malawi are similar.
The aim of these policies were to establish a capitalist economy especially with the coming of
white settlers. During colonial rule land policy was intended to secure land for the white settlers,
postcolonial land policy was aimed at promoting the interests of the “non-poor”, or the African
elite.2

1
E. Chirwa, Access to Land, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Malawi (Zomba: University of Malawi, 2004), 70.
2
E. Chirwa, Land Tenure, Farm Investments and Food Production in Malawi (Manchester: University of Manchester,
UK, 2008), 76.
1
In 1991 on 14th May, British declared Malawi (formerly known as Nyasaland) as heir colonial
authority. However, in 1964 on 6th July, Malawi was granted independence. British sovereignty
over Nyasaland changed Malawi’s land tenure system, which saw the alienation of thousands of
hectares of land in the Shire Highlands in favour of white settlers. Local elites lost political power
through loss of control over land while the community lost its right to it. The rights of whites to
the land grabbed from the Africans were formalized through the “Certificates of Claim” issued in
1902 by the colonial Secretary of State. The aim was to promote settler agriculture and therefore
make the new colony self-financing.3

Postcolonial land policies in Malawi were the policies that were formulated after independence.
The following were land policies in Malawi. Before independence, various land commissions were
set up in 1903 and 1920 with the aim of addressing landlessness among indigenous communities
in Malawi. These commissions recommended strict compliance with the “protective clause”
contained in the Certificates of Claim. To emphasize more, the 1920 commission suggested the
provision of land reserves for indigenous people as long it did not lead to loss of labour by the
British settler community. In 1904, the Land Ordinance (Native locations) Act was propagated and
in 1928, the Africans on Private Estates Ordinance followed. Both were aimed at securing the
’possessory rights’ of indigenous peoples to the land which they now occupied as tenants of white
settlers.4 Between 1936 and 1949, there were introduction of Nyasaland Protectorate (Native Trust
Land) Orders-in Council. In some areas, land was declared as “Native trust Lands”, reserved for
’Native settlement’. However, the state could at will dispose of such lands by grant or lease as
private land.5

In1950, there was development of comprehensive land law and indigenous people lost ownership
and control of land. Customary land was converted to Crown land owned by the colonial state or
private land owned by white settlers. Through the issuance of Certificates of Claim, Africans lost
1 482 102 hectares of land, nearly 80% of which was appropriated by the British South Africa
Company. In 1950 the colonial state also passed the Nyasaland Protectorate (African Trust Land)
Order-in Council.6 Land was classified into Public, Native Trust and Private Land. Native trust
land was vested in the Secretary of State. However, the colonial state still retained extensive

3
Chirwa, Land Tenure, Farm Investments and Food Production in Malawi, 78
4
Chirwa, Access to Land, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Malawi, 71.
5
Chirwa, Access to Land, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Malawi, 71.
6
B. Cbimine, Exploring the politics of land reforms in Malawi (London, UK: IIED, 2008), 67.
2
powers of entry into native trust land under the doctrine of eminent domain and could dispose of
such land through lease or other right of occupancy as a private interest. Africans were not legal
right to protect their interests of this piece of land. The colonial state could alienate land from
indigenous communities in favour of estate (large scale agriculture), practiced by whites. In 1951,
a Land Ordinance created another category of land called ‘customary land’. The colonial state still
retained interest over this land. Africans lost their customary tenure under colonial land and law
policy.7

The land policies after independence are outlined below. Just after Malawi got independence,
there was need to change land policies so as to allow many indigenous people have access to land.
However, after independence, no comprehensive land policy was formulated in Malawi. The
Malawi Independence Order of 1964 retained the state’s legal right in public and customary land.
No attempt was made to redefine land relations.8

An effort was made a year later in 1965 as comprehensive legal framework for land tenure was
developed under the Land Act of 1965. This comprehensive legal framework redefined land under
colonial land law into public, private and customary. Land alienation under colonial rule was
embedded. All power over land was vested in the President though customary was in principle
declared the “undoubted property of the people of Malawi”, that declaration was without any legal
significance. Like the colonial state before it, the colonial state retained the right to dispose of
customary land as private land under leasehold. It could also declare customary land as public
land, which could then be converted into freehold without any compensation.9

Interestingly, in 1967, a legal framework for the conversion of customary land into privately-held-
leasehold was put in place. It came through the Customary Land (development) Act. Customary
land converted under this act was registered under the Registered Land Act (1967) as private land
vested in the individual or family unit. The third Act was the Local Lands Board Act. There was
therefore, a clear link between colonial and post-colonial land law and policy. 10 Privatization of
customary land was intended to serve the interests of the new elites including foreign agribusiness,

7
H. Bernstein, “Land Reform: Taking a Longer View,” Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 2, No.4 (2009), 438.
8
Bernstein, “Land Reform: Taking a Longer View,” 440.
9
Government of Malawi (GoM), Final Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Land Reform (Zomba:
Government Printer, 1999), 5.
10
E. Chirwa, A. Doward and J. Kydd, “Future Scenarios for Agriculture in Malawi: Challenges and Dilemmas,” A
Paper Presented at the Future Agricultures Consortium held at the Institute of Development Studies, University of
Sussex, 2006, 34.
3
parastatal estates and indigenous capitalist farmers comprising senior civil servants, retirees and
other formerly non-agrarian business people. The basis of post-colonial land law reform was to
promote capitalist agriculture against traditional agriculture.11

The 1967 Customary Land development Act entrenched ‘class and gender inequalities’ over land
and consequently advanced the interests of the new ‘rentier class’ over those of the peasant
producers. The custom of holding land in Malawi and methods of tilling it was to hinder
agricultural economy, hence there was need to end it.12

The favoring of estate or the elites or large scale agriculture over smallholder farming over land
continued up to 1994. The measures taken and implemented were intended to commoditise land in
the quest of converting ‘dead’ capital into ‘live’ capital. The ‘economic’ was prioritised over the
‘social’. There was no attempt made to redress colonial land alienation and customary land tenure
was not given any legal significance under received law which was normatively considered
superior to customary law. The postcolonial state remained the legal owner of customary land
under statute and could dispose of it as it deemed fit.13

Customary land tenure has survived in social practice outside the realm of ‘bourgeois’ law. The
land question in Malawi as was the case in Zambia was central in the campaign for the
introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s. After change of government, a number of
agrarian studies were commissioned between 1996 and 1998 through the Presidential Commission
of enquiry on Land Reform established in 1996. It was aimed at promoting scholarly discourse,
gather opinion of the private sector, ordinary citizens, NGOs so as to facilitate land reform policy
efforts. The Commission produced its final report in 1999, thus providing a basis for a new land
policy that would address ills inherited from colonial rule.14 This resulted in the recommendation
for a comprehensive national land policy. Poor access to land, improper land use and insecurity of
tenure were identified as problems. For mainly political reasons and economic expediency, no past
titles were to be disturbed and that all customary land should be reposed in traditional authorities
under a public trust created under statute for the benefit of the members of the community in the

11
G. Mhone, “Agriculture and Food Policy in Malawi,” In T. Mkandawire and N. Forename, The State and
Agriculture in Africa (London, UK: CODESRIA Book Series, 1987), 69.
12
Mhone, “Agriculture and Food Policy in Malawi,” 70.
13
Mhone, “Agriculture and Food Policy in Malawi,” 70.
14
Government of Malawi (GoM), “Malawi Land Reform Programme Implementation Strategy (2003– 2007),”
Ministry of Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Surveys, Policy Planning Unit (Lilongwe: Malawi, 2005), 43.
4
area of each traditional authority. That was the basis of the January, 2002 National Land Policy.
The national land policy was approved by cabinet and parliament in 2002.15

Furthermore, there was establishment of three categories of land and these are; government, public
and private land. Customary land was to be demarcated and registered as traditional land
management area in recognition of the central role of traditional authority to customary land
tenure.16 Customary land was to be registered and titled as individual landholding to be known as
customary estate. Once registered the owner would have full legal status, so as to provide security
of tenure, promote access to credit and provide incentive for investment, leading to the emergence
of a “vibrant formal land market.” Titling and registration of a customary estate were however not
intended to render the land freely alienable. Any sale, lease of mortgage was subject to the
interests of the community and required the consent of a traditional authority of the area in which
the customary estate was located.17

However, the policy was formulated under the sponsorship of the World Bank. It was grounded in
a neo-liberal approach to development. It was intended to take into account the changing
economic, political and social circumstances of the country. The policy was hailed as forming a
basis for a comprehensive land law with immense economic and social significance.
Individualization, titling and registration of rights in land were the key tenet of the policy. Formal
title to land was viewed as predictable and a sure basis for development as opposed to customary
tenure under which rights to land were informal. 18 This was followed by the setting up of a special
Law Commission in 2003. It task was to review existing land-related legislation and develop new
legislation for effective land administration through a wide consultative process of relevant
stakeholders, in particular, the civil society. No land law reflecting the above suggestions had been
passed, four years after the commission concluded its work in 2007.19

The extent at which the above policies been successful in addressing problems over land inherited
from colonial rule in Malawi is discussed below. Access to land is key for sustainable livelihoods

15
Government of Malawi (GoM), “Malawi Land Reform Programme Implementation Strategy (2003– 2007),” 44.
16
C. Toulmin, “Securing Land and Property Rights in Africa: The Role of Local Institutions,”’ In T. Brigg and D.
Satterthwaite (Eds), How to Make Poverty History? (London, UK: IIED, 2006), 125.
17
J. Quan, “Land Tenure, Economic Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa,” In C. Toulmin and J. Quan, (Eds).
Evolving Land Rights, Policy and Tenure in Africa (London, UK: DFID and IIED, 2000), 6780.
18
A. Leftwich, Democracy and Development: Theory and Practice (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995.
19
C. Ng’ong’ola, “The Design and Implementation of Customary Land Reforms in Central Malawi,” Journal of
African Law, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1982), 117.
5
in the country. It is a significant determinant of whether a household will be food secure, less
vulnerable to risks and shocks, and earn a livelihood above the poverty line. Scholars actually
posit that the extent to which agricultural development can have greater impact on poverty
depends on the availability of land. Efforts therefore has been made to address land problem
through the formulation of the policies discussed above. However, the challenge in Malawi is that
the ownership and distribution of land is highly unequal. There are striking regional variations in
the patterns of land distribution in Malawi with the southern region being piloted the hardest hit.
The average land holding sizes per capita are estimated at 0.178 hectares in the south compared to
0.257 hectares and 0.256 hectares for central and northern regions respectively.20

Further, land reforms in Malawi have been characterized by delays, frustrations among the land
hungry poor. There are too many interests in conflict that have continued to impede radical land
reforms that would offer security of tenure to the majority of Malawians. There is mounting
evidence that the delays in implementing the land reforms in Malawi is an indication nothing
serious has changed since independence. The expectation of the people was that the land reform
programme would be implemented immediately after the reinstallation of a democratic political
dispensation. The delays appear to have encouraged encroachment and invasions into freehold
land by land-scarce farmers. The invasions of privately owned farms have a fairly long history but
dramatically peaked in the wake of the liberalization of political life in the mid-1990s.21

In conclusion, land remains the most significant productive asset for the majority of Malawians
yet it is far from being equitably distributed. 84% of Malawians depend their livelihoods directly
out of agriculture which contributes over 90% to the country’s export earnings, about 39% of the
country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for 85% of total employment. The
importance of agriculture in the country’s economy. However, the combined effects of the
postcolonial agricultural development strategy and the rapid increase in population growth have
led to the dramatic decline in per capita landholding sizes to as low as 0.8 hectares in the 2000s
from 1.53 hectares in the late 1960s. Colonial and postcolonial land policies in Malawi have been
said to have been similar. They were all intended to entrench a capitalist economy.

20
P. Woodhouse, “Legitimizing Markets or Legalizing Custom? Land Commoditization and Tenure Reform in
Africa,” In C. Tornimbeni and M. Zamponi, (Eds), Comparing Rights: Land and Natural Resources in Africa.
Bologna, Italy, 2006, 692.
21
Woodhouse, “Legitimizing Markets or Legalizing Custom? Land Commoditization and Tenure Reform in Africa,”
693.
6
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bernstein, H. “Land Reform: Taking a Longer View.” Journal of Agrarian Change. Vol. 2, No.4
(2009), 433-463.

Cbimine, B. Exploring the politics of land reforms in Malawi. London, UK: IIED, 2008

Chirwa, E. Access to Land, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Malawi. Zomba: University of
Malawi, 2004.

Chirwa, E. Land Tenure, Farm Investments and Food Production in Malawi. Manchester:
University of Manchester, UK, 2008.

Chirwa, E., Doward, A. and Kydd, J. “Future Scenarios for Agriculture in Malawi: Challenges and
Dilemmas,” A Paper Presented at the Future Agricultures Consortium held at the Institute of
Development Studies, University of Sussex, 2006.

Government of Malawi (GoM). “Malawi Land Reform Programme Implementation Strategy

(2003– 2007).” Ministry of Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Surveys, Policy Planning
Unit. Lilongwe: Malawi, 2005.

Government of Malawi (GoM). Final Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Land
Reform. Zomba: Government Printer, 1999.

Leftwich, A. Democracy and Development: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995.

Mhone, G. “Agriculture and Food Policy in Malawi.” In T. Mkandawire and N. Forename. The
State and Agriculture in Africa. London, UK: CODESRIA Book Series, 1987, 66-99.

Ng’ong’ola, C. “The Design and Implementation of Customary Land Reforms in Central Malawi.”
Journal of African Law, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1982), 115–132.

Quan, J. “Land Tenure, Economic Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa” In C. Toulmin and
J. Quan, (Eds). Evolving Land Rights, Policy and Tenure in Africa. London, UK: DFID and IIED,
2000, 678-689.

Toulmin, C. “Securing Land and Property Rights in Africa: The Role of Local Institutions.”’ In T.
Brigg and D. Satterthwaite (Eds). How to Make Poverty History? London, UK: IIED, 2006, 123-
145.
7
Woodhouse, P. “Legitimizing Markets or Legalizing Custom? Land Commoditization and Tenure
Reform in Africa.” In C. Tornimbeni and M. Zamponi, (Eds). Comparing Rights: Land and
Natural Resources in Africa. Bologna, Italy, 2006, 690-712.