Réforme agraire et démagogie électorale au Zimbabwe

Twenty years after Independence, the land question is still an urgent unresolved issue in Zimbabwe. The government launched the land reform after 1980 and led an active policy in favour of the rural areas. But the land reform programme slowed down considerably in the second half of the eighties, and again during the last decade when the government adopted a structural adjustment policy. In this context, the new phase of the land reform programme, which was launched in 1997 under political pressure, started off badly. Presently, it suffers from a lack of funding and a proper strategy. It might therefore worsen the economic crisis and increase poverty, without reducing the land inequalities.