69
addition, a small number of individuals migrated back and forth between Chilembene and
other localities such as Chaimite. These persons maintained their farms in Chibuto and
returned at night to temporary homesteads in Chilembene (Myers, West, and Eliseu 1993).
Customary rules for acquiring and securing land rights in the irrigation scheme appear
not to be used at all, and this may have also weakened the power of customary authorities
over land in areas outside of the scheme. Most individuals interviewed before the cease-fire
reported that local government officials had control over land distribution and conflict
resolution. They said that if they wanted land, they had to ask the state farm, executive
council, or district officials. They also commented that the government could move them to
another location and take away their land rights if it so desired. Smallholders frequently stated
that customary chiefs, including the regulos, no longer had power in the area (Myers, West,
and Eliseu 1993).
5. LAND TENURE IN CHOKWE AND CHIBUTO DISTRICTS AFTER THE PEACE ACCORD
The adverse affects of the war and the horror that it created for the people of Mozam-
bique have been documented elsewhere and in great detail There is no question that the
war created great hardship, including economic and political disruption. Many lives were lost
while countless numbers were maimed physically or traumatized. It is apparent that the war
created political and economic opportunities for many individuals (in labor, land, markets,
and exchange), including smallholder farmers It is also clear that after the peace accord
some smallholders tried to maintain the economic and political advantages they had gained
while exploring new opportunities or reactivating old economic relationships in the postwar
period.
In the Chokwe region many people were moving even before the cease-fire was signed.
Newly displaced families were coming into the area from RENAMO-held zones, while others
were leaving the state-farm sector in the irrigation scheme as the government granted land
to various interests, including private commercial enterprises, joint-venture companies (such
as LOMACO and SEMOC), and some smallholder farmers. Still others were entering the
area to capitalize on opportunities created by the irrigation scheme, the private companies,
the NGOs, and the district government. At the same time, people were being displaced by
LOMACO (and probably JFS) northwest of the city, creating a new group of landless
farmers. Smallholder farmers in increasing numbers, particularly displaced smallholders living
in the city's bairros, were traveling great distances to farm their old plots during the day.
After the peace accord an even greater number of people began to move around the region
seeking access to land for homesteads and agriculture. However, the land available had
diminished considerably as formerly displaced people returned to the area and more private
131. Bonga and Wilson (1993); Vines (1991); Drumtra (1993); Minter (1989); Hall (1990); Finnegan
(1992); Geffray (1990); Gersony (1988); Hanlon (1990); and Wilson (1992a).
132. Obviously, the "big winners" in this process were those who gained access to land and other natural
resources (most of whom were not smallholder farmers but rather government officials and others with political
connections).