Johannesburg — Land reform has been recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of the solution to deepening economic decline in Swaziland, a country where more than two-thirds of the population lives in poverty.
Following a two-week visit by a delegation, the IMF announced, in a 7 November statement, that one of the key challenges facing Swaziland – in addition to high unemployment, rising inequality and the world’s highest HIV/AIDS prevalence – is “improving access to modern financing by an appropriate land tenure reform.”
Dimpho Motsamai, a researcher from the Africa Conflict Prevention Program at the Pretoria-based think tank Institute for Security Studies (ISS), told IRIN, “It is refreshing land [in Swaziland] is being highlighted as part of the solution to poverty” by international institutions.
Swazi Nation Land
Swaziland has dual system of land ownership, in which some people have title deeds while the majority live on Swazi Nation Land (SNL). SNL is often referred to as communal land, although communal land practices apply only to non-arable and livestock pastures. Land used for crop production is individually held and allocated by chiefs, who also act as arbiters in land disputes.
SNL is held in trust by King Mswati III, sub-Sahara’s last absolute monarch, forming the bedrock of his power base. The king imposes his authority through a chieftain system in rural areas, which comprise about 60 percent of the country’s land mass.
Those residing on SNL have no title deeds and can be evicted by the chiefs without recourse. Without title deeds, subsistence farmers have no collateral to raise the funds needed to undertake basic improvements, such as irrigation systems, that would increase their yields. As a result, many farming practices are rudimentary, and many people are vulnerable to food insecurity.
Mandla Mduli, a trade unionist and member of the Swaziland Solidarity Network, an umbrella organization of pro-democracy groups, told IRIN, “Land reform as recommended by the IMF will not be done because the system keeps the royal family in power. Seventy percent of Swazis live on these lands that are, in effect, owned by the royal family and run by chiefs appointed by the king. Anyone who joins a [opposition] political party is exiled [from SNL].”
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Swaziland: IMF Recommends Land Reforms