before the peace accord was signed. Smallholders are not moving away from the congested
areas en masse. Smallholders are motivated by the same factors that affect larger commercial
interests. They want access to the same strategically located lands, infrastructure, markets,
and transportation. Smallholders are also motivated by security concerns. Many of them do
not believe the war is over and are therefore afraid to return or move to rural areas. They
often prefer to remain in the more congested areas, borrowing or leasing land or working as
tenant laborers. Some smallholders are not sure where they should go since they have been
displaced so many times. In some areas, smallholders have been displaced from their land and
have no place to go. The landless population is growing in some localities as the government
continues to grant concessions. The reintegration of the refugee and displaced populations will
not be accomplished quickly or smoothly. This process will be disruptive and will probably
take several years.
Although government has already initiated a discussion of decentralizing administration,
this process needs to move forward.8 .* There is a strong need for comprehensive discussions
of land policy reform, natural resource management, and decentralized access and control
over natural resources and other forms of property. These discussions should address
fundamental questions, including what type of property rights will be permitted in postwar
Mozambique. Mozambique needs the investment that is essential for postwar reconstruction.
Investment must be encouraged if Mozambique is to move away from being donor-dependent
and achieve greater food security; this investment must be legitimate and productive and its
processes and mechanisms must be seen as transparent by all Mozambicans.
A. Recommendations for government
1. Central government should suspend the granting of land concessions until the land law
is revised or clarified.
2. At the earliest opportunity after elections, government should open a public discussion
concerning land law and property rights in Mozambique. The land law should be
assessed, then revised or replaced.
3. A revised land law should legalize land transactions, including those that are already
taking place. Privatization of land markets may well give women and other land users
with secondary rights greater opportunities to gain control of property and hold
resources. But this should be studied carefully, since this type of regime, particularly if
combined with individualization and/or registration, may lead to the concentration of all
rights in the (male) heads of household or lineage heads, stripping women and others of
their secondary user rights.
* After this paper was written, the National Assembly passed an important piece of legislation, the
Decentralization of Municipalities Law. This law apparently distributes greater powers to " municipalities" in
each district. The law is vague on certain points; for example, it appears that municipalities have not been given
the power to tax and determine where resources are invested. An analysis of this law is forthcoming in a paper
by Harry West and Gregory Myers.
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