Land project sparks clashes between locals, settlers

THYOLO – The gun-toting policemen patrolling round-the-clock in Malawi’s tea-growing southern district of Thyolo bear witness to tensions fuelled by the government’s land redistribution policy.

A unit staffed by four policemen was hurriedly set up last week near a former British-owned tea estate in the southern region of Thyolo following clashes between locals and settlers who had been given land by the state. “It’s an explosive and serious situation.We are lucky nobody has been killed in these fights,” police prosecutor Sydney Jumbe told AFP.Jumbe has been single-handedly prosecuting scores of cases in which workers at the Makande tea estate, bought by the government three years ago, have been fighting a move to share 760 hectares of land with some 350 families in Thyolo, located some 40 kilometres from Blantyre.Foreign-owned tea estates in Thyolo and Mulanje districts account for nearly 95 per cent of exports of tea, the second biggest export crop after tobacco.Tobacco accounts for 70 per cent of Malawi’s foreign revenue earnings.”This land on this estate belonged to our ancestors and was taken from us without consent,” said 27-year-old Catherine Mwasuka, one of the “old settlers” near Makande tea estate, who wants to throw out the “foreigners” who have been allotted land.”We will fight to the end.We don’t fear imprisonment.”Mwasuka and nine other women have appeared before a court, charged with encroachment after a fierce fight erupted with the new settlers last week.They all pleaded not guilty.Court cases over land disputes are common here, local magistrate Gladston Chilundu said, adding:”Any idle land land gets encroached in this district.”A year ago, some 355 villagers invaded a 300-hectare, foreign-owned tea estate and ignored court orders to vacate until the government intervened and promised them land elsewhere.Most of the 11 million Malawians do not own land, and those who do hold less than one hectare — considered insufficient to feed a family or bring in a viable income.Some 1,8 million families with small holdings and primarily engaged in subsistence farming account for 80 per cent of food production in Malawi.Farmers in the densely populated south were forced out into fallow lands in the 1960s, leaving foreign firms and a few farmers, most of them white, and rich Malawians and politicians, in control of 60 per cent of fertile land.Those in control of large tracts of land included former dictator Kamuzu Banda who owned plantations of 28 000 hectares growing tobacco, tea and sugar.The land laws have been slammed by many.Foreigners complain that a clause restricting land leases by foreign companies and non-Malawians for investment purposes is discriminatory.Another contentious clause is that foreigners interested in acquiring freehold land are required to form partnerships with Malawians or obtain citizenship.Local chiefs who wielded a lot of power over traditional land have seen this erode.Chief Nanseta is bitter that he and his colleagues were left out of the process in the redistribution of land at the Makande tea estate.”The problem of encroachment and fights over land will not end until the government gives us back the powers to control and distribute land,” he told AFP.”This is why there are fights.The government has taken over our role of many years.It’s us chiefs who know who needs land,” he added.Agriculture experts say 32 per cent of arable land is not being utilised due to limited resources.Malawi is spread over 94 080 square kilometres of which only 53 070 square kilometres is considered suitable for cultivation.- Nampa-AFP”It’s an explosive and serious situation.We are lucky nobody has been killed in these fights,” police prosecutor Sydney Jumbe told AFP.Jumbe has been single-handedly prosecuting scores of cases in which workers at the Makande tea estate, bought by the government three years ago, have been fighting a move to share 760 hectares of land with some 350 families in Thyolo, located some 40 kilometres from Blantyre.Foreign-owned tea estates in Thyolo and Mulanje districts account for nearly 95 per cent of exports of tea, the second biggest export crop after tobacco.Tobacco accounts for 70 per cent of Malawi’s foreign revenue earnings.”This land on this estate belonged to our ancestors and was taken from us without consent,” said 27-year-old Catherine Mwasuka, one of the “old settlers” near Makande tea estate, who wants to throw out the “foreigners” who have been allotted land.”We will fight to the end.We don’t fear imprisonment.”Mwasuka and nine other women have appeared before a court, charged with encroachment after a fierce fight erupted with the new settlers last week.They all pleaded not guilty.Court cases over land disputes are common here, local magistrate Gladston Chilundu said, adding:”Any idle land land gets encroached in this district.”A year ago, some 355 villagers invaded a 300-hectare, foreign-owned tea estate and ignored court orders to vacate until the government intervened and promised them land elsewhere.Most of the 11 million Malawians do not own land, and those who do hold less than one hectare — considered insufficient to feed a family or bring in a viable income.Some 1,8 million families with small holdings and primarily engaged in subsistence farming account for 80 per cent of food production in Malawi.Farmers in the densely populated south were forced out into fallow lands in the 1960s, leaving foreign firms and a few farmers, most of them white, and rich Malawians and politicians, in control of 60 per cent of fertile land.Those in control of large tracts of land included former dictator Kamuzu Banda who owned plantations of 28 000 hectares growing tobacco, tea and sugar.The land laws have been slammed by many.Foreigners complain that a clause restricting land leases by foreign companies and non-Malawians for investment purposes is discriminatory.Another contentious clause is that foreigners interested in acquiring freehold land are required to form partnerships with Malawians or obtain citizenship.Local chiefs who wielded a lot of power over traditional land have seen this erode.Chief Nanseta is bitter that he and his colleagues were left out of the process in the redistribution of land at the Makande tea estate.”The problem of encroachment and fights over land will not end until the government gives us back the powers to control and distribute land,” he told AFP.”This is why there are fights.The government has taken over our role of many years.It’s us chiefs who know who needs land,” he added.Agriculture experts say 32 per cent of arable land is not being utilised due to limited resources.Malawi is spread over 94 080 square kilometres of which only 53 070 square kilometres is considered suitable for cultivation.- Nampa-AFP