A Survey of African Land Tenure in Northern Rhodesia
| Author | C. M. N. White |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1959.tb00140.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1959 |
| Date | 01 October 1959 |
A
Survey
of
African Land
Tenure
JVorthern
~hodesia
by C. M. N.
WHITE,
M.B.E.
African Land Tenure Officer
.
in
1.
INTRODVCTION
THE
survey
of
African
land
tenure in
Northern
Rhodesia which forms
the
sub.
ject
of this report! was carried
out
from mid-September 1956, to the
end
of
December 1958.
The
object of
the
survey was to examine
the
existing features
of
African
land
tenure in the territory with special reference to
modern
changes
occurring
and
the emergence of problems requiring early attention.
The
survey covered all the provinces except the Barotseland Protectorate; all
data
was collected in the field in the form
of
actual case histories
of
land
holding,
and
all conclusions
are
drawn
from facts thus established,
and
not
from otherwise unconfirmed assertions or opinions. Social structure,
population
density, agricultural systems,
and
the degree
of
commercialisation
of
land
all
interact
in a given African community to determine the
nature
of
land
rights
which exist in it,
and
these
can
only be analysed by study in
the
field.
Separate
reports on each province have been submitted to Government as
the
survey proceeded.
The
present report brings together the general principles
which have emerged from all
the
provinces studied, together
with
such detail
as is required for illustration,
drawn
from all the seven provinces.
II.
HISTORICAL
AND
LEGAL
BACKGROUND
The
present
report
deals with African
land
tenure in native reserves
and
native trust lands.
It
does not deal with
any
of the areas
of
Crown
land
in
Northern
Rhodesia.
Reserves have
had
a long history in
Northern
Rhodesia going
back
to
the
days
of
the
B.S.A. Company.
Trust
lands on the
other
hand
are
comparatively
recent,
dating
from
the
Order
in Council of 1947· Both reserves
and
trust lands
are
vested in the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Reserves
are
set
apart
in
perpetuity
for the sole
and
exclusive use
and
occupation of
the
African inhabi-
tants subject to certain qualifications set
out
in the
Order
in Council.
Trust
lands, subject to
the
provisions of the
Order
in Council,
and
to
the
general or
special directions
of
the
Secretary of State,
are
to be administered
and
controlled
by
the
Governor for
the
use or common benefit, direct or indirect,
of
the
natives
of
Northern
Rhodesia.
The
Orders
in Council
are
not
very explicit
about
the
type
of
land
rights
enjoyed by individual Africans since they refer only to use
of
land.
Moreover
the
position as between reserve
and
trust lands is not exactly
the
same.
In
the
case
of
reserves, Article 7provides
that
the
Governor shall within each native
reserve assign lands to natives,
whether
as tribes or portions
of
tribes.
There
is
no provision for
land
to be assigned to individual Africans,
although
in fact
1This is an abridged version of a report submitted to the Government of
Northern
Rhodesia
by Mr. White. To save
sl?a~e
some of the illustrati.ve
data
and
the bibliography have been
omitted.
Nor
are Mr. White sformal recommendations to Government reproduced.-EditoT.
17
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