Zimbabwe: Land reform: The art of the possible

Zimbabwe is reeling under a legacy of a racially skewed pattern of land ownership and access. The injustice harks back to Cecil John Rhodes, whose British South African Company "successfully" shut blacks in "native reserves" and placed three-quarters of the land in the hands of white farmers. At independence in 1980, 42% of the territory was owned by 6 000 white commercial farmers -- less than 1% of the population. As Mugabe later remarked: "The land question was at the centre of the factors that propelled us to launch our war of national liberation."