NATIVE LAND HUSBANDRY ACT OF SOUTHERN RHODESIA
| Published date | 01 July 1955 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1955.tb00096.x |
| Date | 01 July 1955 |
NATIVE
LAND
HUSBANDRY
ACT OF
SOUTHERN
RHODESIA
99
NATIVE LAND HUSBANDRY ACT OF SOUTHERN
RHODESIA
By A. Pendered, M.B.E.
Under
Secretary,
Native
Economic
Development,
and
W. von Memeriy,
Administrative
Officer,
Native
Land
Husbandry
Act,
Both
of
the
Department
of
Native
Affairs, S.
Rhodesia
Introduction
THE-Native
Land
Husbandry Act which became law in Southern Rhodesia
in 1952, is the first step in the
attempt
to solve an extremely complex problem.
In
order to appreciate its true significance it is necessary to know something
of the present
state
of Southern Rhodesian law in regard to the apportionment
of
the
land as between indigenous Africans
and
those who are
not
indigenous
Africans and of the social, economic and agricultural problems
that
have come
into being since the pioneer column arrived in the Colony in 1890.
The land question has already been dealt with in the article entitled
"Native
Purchase Areas of Southern Rhodesia," by Mr. L. Powys Jones,
C.B.E.,)
from
which it will be seen
that
the legal holding of land in
the
Colony is based upon
the Southern Rhodesia constitution in respect of native reserves
and
the
Land Apportionment Act in respect of all other land categories.
Part
I of this article will sketch briefly
the
social, economic
and
agricultural
background of
the
problem.
Part
II will describe
the
way in which the Act
seeks to provide remedies
and
Part
III
will summarise experiences to
date
in
the application of the Act.
PART
I
In 1890 the pioneer column found
the
territory sparsely populated in
the
west by the pastoral Matabele nation, politically a closely knit
and
extremely
militant tribe. In
the
east were
the
politically disunited group of tribes known
as
the
Mashona who practised shifting cultivation
and
owned a few head of
cattle. Both lived on a subsistence level
and
there was no organisation for
trading.
By 1902 it was estimated
that
the African population was about half a million
souls, or about 100,000 families. These 100,000 families tilled 500,000 acres
and possessed 55,000 head of cattle. The area of
the
territory is about 100
million acres, so there was ample scope for
the
Africans' traditional method
of restoring soil fertility by shifting tillage and shifting grazing.
The coming of the European and
the
setting
apart
of the native reserves
and areas placed restrictions upon this free movement in search of new land.
In addition to this since 1902
the
African population has increased fourfold
and the cattle population has increased by thirty-five times. These facts
Workingtogether have destroyed
the
system of shifting farming, have increased
the
pressure upon
the
soil to such an extent as to endanger the
natural
resources
and have resulted, in
many
areas, in the fragmentation of the arable land down
to uneconomic bits and pieces.
l«Journal of
African
Administration ", Vol.
VII,
No. I, p. 60.
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