88
to experience land shortages and conflicts (see maps 2 and 6). At the same time, we knew
that these areas had experienced less investment in the colonial and postindependence
periods—thus making them less desirable in the short term to commercial interests in the
postwar period. These assumptions, and our expectations regarding land access and conflict,
were in some ways confirmed and in other aspects challenged by our findings a year later.
4. LAND TENURE IN NHAMATANDA DISTRICT AFTER THE PEACE ACCORD
In July 1993, Nhamatanda District was revisited. Research focused not only on the area
surrounding Lamego State Agricultural Enterprise, but also included several other localities
in the district. Displaced, repatriated, and indigenous farmers were interviewed at Lamego
Cen1t8e2 r (map 13), 179 Muda (map 14), 180 Nharuchonga (map 12), 181 and Djasse (map
11). Many of the people interviewed at Muda and Nharuchonga were repatriated from
Malawi and Zimbabwe. 183 By far the most interesting and unsettling observations were made
at Lamego and Muda. These cases are discussed first.
In both Lamego and Muda, approximately 50 percent of the repatriated people
interviewed said they had access to land and were farming. They stated that they had either
reclaimed old family land or acquired new land since their return. Those people who said
they had recovered family land are differentiated into several categories: Some were returning
to land they claimed was owned by their family during or before the colonial period; others
were returning to land that they had been given by colonial authorities or by colonial-era
private farmers; and still others were recovering land that had been granted to them by
government since independence.' In some cases we witnessed overlapping claims, which the
locality government was attempting to sort out. It is not clear if this effort will be successful.
The fact that only half of the repatriated families—that is, returning families—had access
to land at the time of the interviews is revealing. It was assumed by government that all those
returning would have securable land since they had land in this area before the war. In
practice, however, this has not happened. There are several possible explanations for the
anomaly. First, displaced families are not moving out of the district to their former family
farms, thus giving way for returning refugees. Second, a new category of individuals
(smallholders) is self-displacing into the area as people move away from RENAMO-controlled
179. Lamego is 12 kilometers east of the district capital.
180. Muda is 25 kilometers east of the district capital.
181. Nharuchonga is 10 kilometers west of the district center.
182. Djasse is 26 kilometers from the district capital.
183. Displaced, repatriated, returning, and other smallholder farmers were also interviewed at the Gorongosa
Center, Ramos Center, and Quarry of Mount Siluvu village. These interviews are not specifically reported in
this case study, though the findings have been used in the overall analysis.
184. Interviews with smallholder farmers in Lamego and Muda, July 1993.