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C. MANICA DISTRICT, MANICA PROVINCE
1. RESEARCH SITES AND OBJECTIVES
Manica District was visited three times between June 1992 and August 1993. Like the
investigation in Sofala, this case study builds upon a 1992 inquiry that highlighted divestiture
of state farm land and assets. 202 In this section we focus on tenure relations at several points
along the Beira corridor in Vanduzi District (see map 15), though a few of the sites visited
were outside the passageway. As in Sofala, we attempted in this case to understand if
returning refugees and displaced farmers had gone back to their family lands or had acquired
land elsewhere in the postwar period. We wanted to learn more about the interaction between
smallholders and larger commercial interests in the corridor as well as among local
smallholders, displaced families, and returning refugees.
Seven locations were visited during the course of the investigation: (1) administrative post
of Vanduzi (map 16); 203 (2) area around Vanduzi State Farm; (3) June 25 communal village
in Vanduzi; (4) Almada communal village (m2a0p6 17); 204 (5) Belas communal villages (map
17); 205 (6) September 25 communal village; and (7) Pungoe Sol. 207 This last site is
the seat of local customary authority, one of two in the territory surrounding Vanduzi. We
report here on the sites in and around Vanduzi (locations 1-3), that is, the terrain around the
state farm, Almada communal village, and Belas communal villages. At these sites we
interviewed approximately sixty-five individuals, including thirty-nine smallholders and eleven
government officials. Twenty-six smallholders were from displaced families, while ten more
were local persons claiming historical rights. Three individuals were returning refugees. We
conducted two group interviews in the Belas villages, speaking to local smallholders,
repatriated refugees, and displaced families. Government officials were interviewed at
Vanduzi Administrative Post and at the provincial capital in Chimoio. In addition, we spoke
to two commercial private farmers and to representatives from NGOs 208 operating in the
district. 209
202. Myers, West, and Eliseu (1993). Apart from research on land access in the postwar period, LTC also
sponsored a more detailed study of land and political power relations in several locations within Manica
Province. This examination, focusing largely on RENAMO-administered areas, is an in-depth analysis of both
historical and current land and political relations (see Alexander 1994).
203. The post is 25 kilometers west of Chimoio.
204. The villages are 7 kilometers east of Vanduzi District Center.
205. The villages are 7 kilometers southwest of Vanduzi.
206. The village is 15 kilometers northwest of Vanduzi.
207. Pungoe Sol is 48 kilometers northwest of Vanduzi.
208. Representatives from CARE and Italian Cooperation were consulted.
209. In 1992 we spoke to many of the same government officials, including the Provincial Director of
Agriculture; District Director of Agriculture; Chief, Provincial Office of DINAGECA; Chief, Agricultural
Extension (Vanduzi District); agricultural extension agents; FRELIMO party representatives at the Belas villages;
Chief, Vanduzi Administrative Post; and a representative from the Provincial Department of Agrarian
Economics. In 1992 we also interviewed representatives from Italian Cooperation. We interviewed approximately
forty-five smallholders individually and conducted two group interviews. During both projects, in 1992 and
1993, we interviewed several customary authorities and former regulos. See Myers, West, and Eliseu (1993).