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IV. FOUR case studies of land access
A. CHOKWE AND CHIBUTO DISTRICTS, GAZA PROVINCE
1. RESEARCH SITES AND OBJECTIVES
Two geographical locations were chosen for investigation in Gaza Province: The first was
sited in the area around Chaimite and Chilembene, while the second was situated in the
region of Chokwe city (see maps 7-9). In the first spot, sites were visited in Chilembene and
across the river in Chaimite as well as along the road between Chaimite and Guija. In the
second place, several points were visited along the Maputo-Macarretane road northwest of
Chokwe city. 13
In the first location we sought to discover if the persons displaced from Chaimite and
other areas in Chibuto to Chilembene had returned to their family lands. 14 We attempted to
learn more about the interactions between the people of Chaimite and Chilembene with regard
to land and to determine what type of land rights returning farmers were securing. We wanted
to learn who was distributing land and resolving conflicts. We also sought to find out more
about the private commercial farmers operating in the area. In the second location we focused
on displaced people living in and around the city of Chokwe. In this area we sought to learn
if displaced people had moved from the accommodation centers and other areas to which they
had been displaced or sought refuge during the war and returned to their homesteads.
Focusing on the private-sector commercial farmers and joint-venture enterprises operating in
the area, we tried to determine how they were interacting with smallholder farmers and if
they were investing in their holdings. The case study begins with a brief review of land
tenure relations before independence and continues with a discussion of land tenure in the
period between independence and the collapse of the state farm sector. This is followed by
a study of tenure during the war and after the peace accord.
113. The districts of Chokwe and Chibuto in Gaza Province were visited several times over the last two and
one-half years. The most recent visit was in January 1994. In addition to government officials, more than 100
smallholders and displaced farmers were interviewed in 1993 and 1994. Earlier research by LTC focused largely
on land tenure and ecological concerns within the Chokwe irrigation scheme. This research, on the other hand,
was part of a larger project investigating the processes and impacts of state farm divestiture (see Tanner, Myers,
and Oad 1993; Myers and Tanner 1992). The current work built upon earlier research conducted in the area
before the southern portion of Gaza Province was consumed by war (see Bowen 1988; Hermele 1986, 1988;
Roesch 1988; Van den Berg 1987; and Wardman 1985).
114. In this paper we use the term "family lands" to mean the land that a family held before the war or
before they were displaced by government policy, i.e., moved to a communal village. These lands may be
ancestral or they may have been acquired either during the colonial period or after independence. Smallholders
themselves use the term family land loosely, and have used the term in interviews to defend rights to land that
may not otherwise be secure.