Farai Mutondoro, Mary Jane Ncube, and Manase Chiweshe
As Zimbabwean political parties get into election mode and start laying foundations for the 2018 general elections, it is important to reflect on one of the emerging strategies already being deployed. In this article, we look at how urban land is emerging as an important strategic tool for ZANU PF’s political campaign to retain power in 2018.
The use of urban land has been brought to the fore in this new election cycle with President Mugabe recently handing out cheap land to ZANU PF youths. The ZANU PF Youth League has been marching in solidarity with President Mugabe in the midst of social protests against corruption, public servants’ wage delays, economic collapse and an import ban on basic commodities in recent months. The urban land handouts can be interpreted as rewards for this show of loyalty. And as the election season approaches, these cheap urban land handouts are likely to gather pace and scale.
Land as a political tool
The use of land as a political tool is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwean politics. One has to look at how in the 2000s agricultural land emerged as an important tool for political mobilization. It became the rallying point for war veterans and landless people in the rural areas, all of which had a positive impact on ZANU PF’s political fortunes. Now that the agricultural land narrarive is getting exhausted, focus has moved to urban land as a mechanism of political patronage and clientelism. In this regard, Zimbabwe provides an important case that highlights the intersection of power, corruption, and politics in relation to land.
Urban land in Zimbabwe is a lucrative economic and by extension, an important political asset in the hands of those who control it. Increased demand for urban land across the country has been driven by multiple factors including high rates of urbanization, increased rural-urban migration, urban population growth and serious challenges in housing provision post-independence. The ruling party has identified a critical need, owing to the rapid pace of rural-urban migration and pressures on urban land. With increased demand for land, Zimbabwe has witnessed multiple cases of corruption in which various actors in the land sector have used various forms of power to accumulate primitively.
The recent move by President Mugabe to offer residential stands to ZANU PF youths is just a tip of the iceberg reflecting the deeply embedded political patronage and clientelism in the Zimbabwean political economy. Urban land in this instance happens to be the attractive tool and asset that is at the disposal of political actors to make use of in their manipulative politics to gain and reproduce political power. Urban land is a valuable commodity that is tradeable and secure. 33% of Zimbabwe ‘s total population is urban. This means that (±) 4 million people are residing in urban areas in Zimbabwe with Harare alone having an urban population of more than 2 million residents. Urbanization in Zimbabwe is estimated to be growing at a rate of 3.4% per year.
Among many other reasons, urbanization is being driven by pull and push economic factors such as the need for jobs and economic opportunities. As such it is younger and productive populations that are moving into urban centers from rural communities. In urban areas, the cost of living is very high as urban dwellers are structurally forced to pay for basic services such as transportation, housing, access to water and electricity. The rental fee seems to be the most expensive as urban dwellers, especially in Harare part away with a fee between $60 to more than $2500 a month depending on the number of rooms and location that one is renting. To avoid the huge rental fee, it is only logical that most people in urban areas would seek an option to own a house and or stand. Oft-times the practice is that before building a formal house they would set up a transitional house (see caption below)
Over and above this, the Zimbabwean government has failed to provide decent housing to the growing urban dwellers. Zimbabwe has an urban housing backlog of more than 1.5 million people. The failure to deliver decent housing to citizens seems more deliberate as it is somehow connected with the emergence of politically connected and corrupt individuals, infamously known as ‘land barons’ (and baronesses). ZANU PF politicians have been implicated in land scandals and have been labeled as land barons. To this group of people, land transactions are a source of political and economic rent. These land barons use their political power, money, and influence to acquire land through illegal means and parcel it out to those pledging support to their political parties and factions at a cost.
The electoral system in a multiparty democracy Zimbabwe being one represents a competitive market where political players compete for the votes. Largely voters’ choices are driven by rational factors like material benefits that citizens can benefit or gain for supporting one party over another. This is pretty much the same modality in a free market economy where business entities compete amongst one another for customers and these customers make rational decisions when buying commodities. Customers are likely to choose commodities that are either cheaper and they make a saving or a commodity that is of high-quality standard and durable. Zimbabwean’s previous elections and the 2018 elections should be interpreted in a similar way. Zimbabwe’s electoral history has shown how young people are key to the election process and outcome. The dominant political parties in Zimbabwe, ZANU PF, and MDC-T all have youth seats and youth representatives and they all thrive on youth support which plays an important role in mobilisation.
Youth factor
Youths aged 15-35 years constitute 36% of the national population in Zimbabwe. About 86% of the youth population in Zimbabwe is formally unemployed. This youthful population represents an interesting demographic group that is moving into Zimbabwe’s urban localities where the standard of living is high and poverty envelopes over the majority. The movement of young people from the rural to urban areas signals a shift and changes in the electoral market. The election history in Zimbabwe has shown that Urban localities are strongholds for opposition parties, in particular, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) while rural areas represent the strongholds for the ruling party ZANU PF. In fact, analysts have argued that the notable housing demolitions of 2008 infamously known as Operation Restore Order or Murambatsvina by the Government of Zimbabwe, was an attempt to frustrate and diminish the population of urban voters supporting the opposition party as well as punish these supporters for their political allegiance.
Young people and especially now are an important demographic group to the Zimbabwean political system. For starters many young people in Zimbabwe are unemployed and frustrated. These young people have been active participants in social media activism against corruption, economic hardships, unemployment, and injustice. Many young people in Zimbabwe were active participants in the demonstrations (popularly known as #Zimshutdown) which Zimbabwe witnessed in July 2016. Young people, therefore, pose as a threat and at the same time an important ally to have especially to ZANU PF which seems to be losing support among the disgruntled war veterans due to factional fights and the succession issue. Young people seems to be an important group targeted by ZANU PF ahead of the 2018 elections. To ensure and guarantee their support, the President has deliberately chosen to give young people urban residential stands.
Diluting urban vote
However, there is another purpose, which is to affect certain electoral constituencies, especially in peri-urban areas. In previous elections, constituencies like Harare South and Mount Pleasant were heavily affected by this influx of new residents who were illegally given land. ZANU PF has struggled to find space in urban areas with the MDC winning most seats since 2000. This practice of giving free urban land is designed to infiltrate urban areas and establish a stronger ZANU PF presence. Whether or not this will be a successful strategy will be seen in the 2018 elections. But ZANU PF is likely to increase the pace of giving out free urban land between now and 2018. As this is an issue to do with corruption and patronage, it is important that these issues be critical issues for political debate as the election approaches. People getting and also need to be aware that those whose homes have been destroyed in recent years have similarly been given cheap land by land barons, only to be discarded after the elections.
Negative effects
Apart from the obvious unfairness and corruption, the side-effect of politics of this nature is that it compromises and violates principles of the urban land market and urban planning. There is a serious risk of negative effects on existing property values. One of Zimbabwe’s major strengths over the years has been the general adherence to principles of the urban land market and urban planning, ensuring that residential areas are properly serviced before construction of properties. The haphazard allocation of cheap land might compromise these principles and consequently existing property rights. The Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) after 2000 had a serious negative effect on property rights, particularly land values. The government must be careful not to cause similar effect in respect of urban land.
Sometimes, land that is not suitable for residential purposes has allocated by land barons. This has serious environmental consequences which can have long-lasting negative effects on the land and population.
Dangling the carrot
President Mugabe has deliberately chosen to give land to only a few youths, as 13000 hectares won’t be enough for all the youths in Harare. But this is a clear carrot-dangling tactic to ensure he lures more unemployed young people to his political party with the promise of cheap urban land. The irony is that while President Mugabe gave residential stands to ZANU PF youths, his government has done nothing to provide alternative land and accommodation to people whose houses it demolished in areas such as Arlington, Caledonia, Budiriro, Westlea and Glen Norah recently on the basis that they were illegal properties. In most cases, these demolitions took place without the authority of court orders contrary to constitutional requirements.
Instead of putting pressure on the local council to clear the housing backlog which stands at 1.5 million, President Mugabe has prioritized giving land to party youths on a partisan basis. The reason is simple: 2018. President Mugabe is already looking at the next elections. The President is a political actor with a political interest to retain power at all costs. Rural agricultural land is no longer the most valuable commodity for pulling votes. Urban land is the new battleground. Urban land has become an important instrument to serve these political interests. With a largely young population in Zimbabwe, youths have become an important constituency in elections. Urbanised youths want land and ZANU PF is using urban land to gain leverage over this critical constituency. The other parties ought to realise that this is a big electoral issue and accordingly, must prepare around it.
Farai Mutondoro is a Senior Researcher and Regional Coordinator with Transparency International Zimbabwe. Farai is part of a team implementing a project on Land and Corruption in Africa within Transparency International.
Mary Jane Ncube is the Executive Director of Transparency International Zimbabwe
Manase Kudzai Chiweshe is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Development Studies at Chinhoyi University of Technology
