The struggle for land

If you are living on the Chief's land, you might get evicted. But if you're living on the state's land it will cost money. To the poorest people in Zambia, land access can be a question of life and death.

It's hot, dusty and dry at the workshop in Chipata district in Zambia's Eastern province. But even after six hours continuous meeting, the 85 participants are still concentrated and actively participating. The popular speakers are praised with applause and shouts – and dancing and singing for the woman who advocated for women's rights.

And there's plenty of reasons to keep awake. The most important point on the agenda is poor people's access to titled land, ”one of the most sensitive subjects we can discuss here in Zambia”, as one of the participants puts it. Nevertheless, the subject is discussed extensively.

Land rights is a complicated issue in Zambia. Land is administered in two parallel systems: state land and customary land. State  land can be leased for payment and on the condition that the land is developed for agriculture or by building on it. Customary land is administered by the traditional leaders, the Chiefs. The Chiefs don't demand payment for the land or set conditions for its use – but  they can evict you and take the land back any time they want to.

“The Chief gives us the land but also takes it away, if our behaviour doesn't please him. If a woman is widowed, she has no rights to the land she is living on. Both she and her children can loose their home, unless the Chief gives her permission to stay on”, explains Virgil Malambo from Chipata District Farmer's Association, an organisation that receives support from MS.

The main problem for the participants of the workshop as well as the millions of other poor farmers in Zambia is thus that they don't have any rights to the land they have lived, worked and died on for several generations. Most farmers live on customary land, which comprises more than half of the country. Because most can't afford to pay the lease for state land. But even though a Chief will typically issue a letter to those they distribute land to, this letter is not valid in a court of law, if the Chief decides to hand over the land to somebody else. Or if the state finds minerals and decides to extract them. It also means that the farmers don't receive any compensation if they are evicted – because you only get compensation if you have a title deed. And title deeds are only issued for state land.

But a change is under way. In the new draft constitution, which has been in the making for some years now, a group of NGO's are working for a change which gives the Chiefs the continued right to administer the land – but it would also give farmers title deeds on their land plots within customary land. That way nobody would be able to take it away from them without compensation – neither the  Chiefs nor the state. The NGO's also want to establish local land committees, so the Chiefs won't have the sole responsibility and authority on deciding, who can get access to land.

Virgil Malambo from Chipata District Farmer's Association

To the participants in the workshop this is new information. That the constitution is being rewritten. And that you could even think of challenging the traditional ways of administering land. And the thought of “selling” the new ideas to the Chiefs isn't embraced enthusiastically by all: “How are we poor going to approach the Chief and tell him that we now want titles on our land plots? He's just  going to laugh at us,” says Tonga Suit, a 75 year old man from the village of Kauswe. But other participants are more positive. They want to work with the Chiefs to change the constitution. “We have to send some very strong men with a lot of authority to the Chief to make him understand that this change will be to the advantage of all of us. But he will need to be given the same information as we have here today. A lot of Chiefs don't know about the constitutional review,” says Markowani Sigmon from the village of Mbenjele.

The discussion carries on while the sun bakes the red earth outside. Several participants eagerly stand up to add their contributions and opinions. Some think that the Chiefs will never approve of such a change. But the deal isn't entirely bad for the Chiefs. Today, issuing a title deed means that customary land will be converted into state land. For this reason many Chiefs fear loosing authority and status by loosing control of their land. The new suggestions entails that the Chiefs could issue title deeds collectively to villages – and that the land in principle still remains under their protection and control.

At the end of the workshop the shadows of the quietly watching children crowding in the door ways have grown long. And the participants are ready for making a joint decision. In groups they will contact their local Chiefs and before September 28^th they will send a report of the outcome to Chipata District Farmer's Association, who will ensure that the experiences are shared among the participants.
“The workshop is a stage in our local work in sensitising people about the issues of land rights and it will lead us to doing further advocacy on a national level. How are the Chiefs supposed to know the wishes of the the farmers, if they don't tell them about it? And how are we going to influence the constitution to the advantage of the poor by giving them title deeds to their land, if we can't get the Chiefs to cooperate?" says Virgil Malambo from Chipata District Farmer's Association.