In the Shadow of a Conflict: Crisis in Zimbabwe and its effects in Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia

11. Home away from Home: Land, identity and community on the Mkushi Farm Block

285 Introduction Just after the turn of the millennium, a series of farm invasions began in Zimbabwe that would eventually see some 150,000 farm workers and an unknown number of commercial farm families flee the country.2 Most of the farm workers crossed, legally or illegally, into South Africa, Mozambique, or Malawi. The farm owners and their families, most of European descent, faced a different set of options. Some gave up farming and settled in Britain or South Africa. Others started afresh in Australia, Brazil, Mozambique, or Nigeria. Over a period of seven years, around 250 families found their way to Zambia. Thirtyone of these settled on the Mkushi Farm Block in Central Province.3 The links between Zimbabwe and Zambia have historically been strong. In 1888, Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company sought permission to negotiate concessions for mining rights throughout the territory between the Limpopo River in the south and Lake Tanganyika in the north. Known as Zambesia, the area was divided into two management units: the area south of the Zambezi River became Southern Rhodesia and the area north of the river Northern Rhodesia. The former would officially become a self-governing British colony in 1923. The latter was governed as two separate units – North-Western and North-Eastern Rhodesia – until 1911, when it became a protectorate and remained so until 1953. Together with Nyasaland (Malawi), Southern and Northern Rhodesia formed a federation from 1953 to 1963. This period saw a steady northbound stream of migrants, as natives of Southern Rhodesia fled from the destocking and land dispossession that followed in the wake of the Native Land Husbandry Act (Thompson, 2004). The original division along the Zambezi transected tribal and kinship units, but the border has, throughout its history, been permeable. Between Zambian 11 Home away from Home Land, Identity and Community on the Mkushi Farm Block Espen Sjaastad, Thomson Kalinda and Fabian Maimbo In the Shadow of a Conflict 286 Map 7: Mkushi District in Central Province, Zambia 287 Home away from home independence in 1964 and Zimbabwean independence in 1980, a series of small migrations resulted in a handful of enclaves of black Rhodesians scattered across Zambia. Even today, despite some political tension in recent years, crossing the border at the three official border posts is but a formality for citizens of the two countries. Nor is the recent migration of commercial farming families from Zimbabwe into Zambia the first such event. Throughout colonial history, there have been waves of white migration across the border. In the 1950s, many of the migrants were farm managers who wished to strike out on their own and found land more easily available further north. Later, others migrated to escape the mounting tensions in Rhodesia through the late 1960s and 1970s. This history, as well as the climatic and environmental similarities between the two countries, made Zambia an obvious destination for commercial farmers leaving Zimbabwe following the farm invasions of the 2000s. Zimbabwe is, however, not the only country to provide a sporadic influx of commercial farmers into Zambia. Over the last 50 years or so, the Mkushi Farm Block (hereafeter MFB) has been the recipient of an intriguing mix of farmers from a wide variety of backgrounds. They arrived alone, in pairs, or in groups, with or without finance, having left their old farms for a multitude of reasons. Some stayed for only a short while, others are still there. One aim of this chapter is to assess the impact of the recent Zimbabwean troubles on a community of commercial farmers in Mkushi. The recent settlement of Zimbabwean farmers must be examined within an extended local context, however , so we also look into the broader history of this area and the question of how African commercial farmers created a space for themselves in the natural, economic, and political environments of Zambia. In particular, we look at the dynamics of the relationship between recent settlers and Block veterans and the long-term prospects for Zimbabweans in the area. The study is based on interviews with 44 farmers on the MFB, of whom 26 were recent immigrants from Zimbabwe. Interviews, both of a formal and open-ended nature, took place between November 2007 and May 2009. We also had conversations with representatives from local authorities. These included: the district administrative officer, immigration, agriculture, police, courts, the labour office, and the national pension scheme. We also...