By Sandra Bogdanova, a student in the Master’s in Indigenous Studies program, at UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Maasai Pastoralists as a Worst Practice of Land and Legitimacy
Legal reforms in Tanzania have seen the eviction of thousands of Maasai pastoralists, and violent land-related conflicts between pastoralists and other citizens have been making Tanzanian headlines almost daily. Over 10,000 pastoralists have been evicted so far by the government, who argues that pastoralism is “not [a] productive” mode of living. Pastoralists across the country have been left poor and without land. In the Kiteto district, after the government declared the creation of a ‘Wildlife Management Area’ (WMA), the state finally intervened to evict some 80-85% of the illegal farmers who were infringing on pastoralist land, but fighting has broken out and 18 people have been killed. However, while the future looks bleak, one community has managed to find a potential solution, even while mass evictions continue and pastoralists continue to be impoverished.
On the 30th of October in 2013 the Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples Conference on “Land and Sea Rights – Protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples to Land and Sea” was hosted by the University of Tromsø. Associate Professor Kelly Askew, who is Director of the African Studies Center at the University of Michigan, gave a presentation on “The Maasai of Tanzania as Worst Practice“. The purpose of her talk was to report on the conditions of the most prominent Kisongo and Parakuyo pastoralists and their livestock evictions during the time period of 2006-2013 in the Mbeya and Morogoro regions. Recently, strengthened anti-pastoralist legislation was introduced with a number of legal acts since the legal reform in Tanzania, with the 1999 Land Acts and 2002 reform of the apparatus for dealing with land disputes; most recently more than 10,000 pastoralists were evicted. Within Tanzania, land disputes are on the rise and feature weekly, if not daily, in the media: ‘Corrupt leaders cause land conflicts—victims,’ The Guardian 13/09/13; ‘Land-related conflicts on the increase’, Daily News 21/08/12; ‘Land: efforts needed to end conflicts between farmers and cattle herders,’ Daily News 03/06/12; ‘Alarm as Tanzania registers 5 land disputes daily’,The Citizen 29/02/12; ‘Land conflicts haunt independent Tanzania’, Daily News 02/12/11. One also hears a continued refusal by the GoT (Government of Tanzania) to recognize the existence of indigenous peoples in Tanzania.
Freely Available Land: ‘Invisible Use’?
Even though Tanzania has the largest land mass of any of the countries in east Africa, there is a wide scarcity of land. 80 per cent of population depends on land for their livelihoods. People think there is a lot of freely available land though everywhere the land is claimed by somebody. The problem is the question of “use”, which is a legal term. If you cannot prove that you are using land, the government has the right to take it. Farming “use” is very visible. You have rows of cotton, rows of beans, you can see the evidence that farming is bringing about. But pastoralist’s “use” is not visible because the cows might be there in the morning and not there in the afternoon and it may look as if the land is not being used. During the dry season cows would be moved to another area altogether and now it would look like nobody is using the land, said Kelly Askew. ‘Invisible use’ puts pastoral lands highly at risk since they look freely available.
The number of conflicts between pastoralists and other Tanzanians appears to be increasing steadily in spite of the fact that recently enacted policies and laws have the officially-stated objectives of reducing land conflicts and protecting the land rights of Tanzanians. Indeed, competition for land and land-related violent conflicts are becoming the order of the day throughout Tanzania.
In the Mbarali district (Mbeya region) during 2006/2007, 4,000 pastoralists were evicted (supposedly for environmental conservation and Rural Park expansion). 320,000 livestock were lost in the operation and the Mbarali District Council collected Tsh 700m (~$450K) in fines. The pastoralists were driven to the Lindi and coastal regions, ~1,000 km from the Mbeya region. 1,501 pastoralists filed Land Case No. 10 (2009) in the Mbeya High Court demanding compensation but lost in the judgement of October 2, 2012. The pastoralists were left in abject poverty.
In the Kilosa district (Morogoro region), 2,000 pastoralists were evicted (to reduce conflicts with farmers and protect Mikumi National Park) in 2009. 20,000 livestock were lost in the operation; the Kilosa district authority collected Tsh 800m for the district council budget in fines from pastoralists. The families affected now rely on food assistance. 76 pastoralists filed Case No. 22 (2012) in Dar es Salaam High Court against the district demanding compensation of Tsh 12 billion for losses incurred during the eviction. New evictions in the region started on January 2nd, 2013.
In the Ulanga and Kilombero districts, the Usanga basin’s (Morogoro region) 5,000 pastoralists, Parakuyo primarily, were expelled in 2012/2013, with 486,736 livestock confiscated by government officials, billions of Tanzanian shillings collected through fines during operation, and pastoralists left in abject poverty and with no compensation made, nor alternative land allocated.
The Tanzanian government has taken a position that pastoralism is an outdated, archaic form of living that should not be encouraged any longer. The current president said this in his very first speech right after being elected. President Kikwele stressed:
[Y]ou must realize that living a nomadic life is not productive because many people have realized the value of land; they survey and own it, leading to a decrease in grazing areas. This is a good time to own surveyed land for the purpose of using modern ways for animal farming.
Foreign Investors as Part of Players on the Ground
SAGCOT (Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania) announced a plan in Dar in 2010 and again at WEF (Davos) in January 2011 to allocate large tracts of land to investors who would set up contract farming with local producers in return for seeds, fertilizer and credit. Most affected has been Loliondo, in the Ngorongoro District, where the land of the Kisongo Maasai has mostly been given away for an Arab hunting concession. Surprisingly, most conflicts do not concern Arab royals or American tour operators and instead involve Tanzanians pitted against fellow Tanzanians, be they among clansmen, among neighbors, parents pitted against their children, husbands against their wives, or wealthy elites against the poor. Many conflicts, and typically the most violent ones, do, however, repeat the above pattern of claims being lodged against lands used and owned by pastoralists (Askew (in print): 2).
In reference to this ongoing conflict over the land, a USAID (United States Agency for International Development) land specialist noted (2012):
[I]t may be factually accurate that land is widely available for investment, but the claim begs a crucial question: from whom will these hectares come? To state it bluntly, most of the lands that GoT wishes to see developed in SAGCOT will need to be taken from villagers by government and leased to investors.
The Endless Tale of Betrayal or a Slight Ray of Hope
There is no simple or once-and-for-all solution to the land problems in Tanzania, and the government faces many challenges in terms of fair and transparent implementation of the Land Acts and in combating corruption. But the state cannot be unilaterally cast as the oppressor of indigenous minorities (Askew et. al. 2013: 136). Persistent pursuit of indigenous rights within judicial settings has, after more than a century of consistent failure, finally begun to yield fruit. This can be attributed in part to mobilization of and by local and international NGOs (such as the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC)), to increased education and networking in and by indigenous communities, and to the ideal enshrined in the Tanzanian constitution that all Tanzanians have a right to land and to a livelihood (Askew et. al. 2013: 137).
Regarding the lawsuit that was won by the Maasai villages in the Kiteto District and attempts to protect 250,000 ha of land that they wanted to designate a ‘Wildlife Management Area’ (WMA), the state finally intervened to evict some 80-85% of the illegal farmers who had invaded the land. However, this is not proving to be a success for the Maasai, since they wrote the constitution of their WMA to allow them to use the land for grazing of their herds, but the government has declared that no human activities of either farming or grazing will be allowed in the new WMA. They too have been evicted from land that was theirs. It is a painful and awful outcome. Fighting has broken out and 18 people have been killed. The situation is still tense and the pastoralists feel betrayed and that their land has been stolen from them. This despite the fact that they ‘won’ at the highest court in the land: the Court of Appeal, noted Kelly Askew.
A ray of hope is to be found in another Maasai village in Mbarali District in the southern region of Mbeya. A village had purchased 85% of its land from a foreclosed government cattle ranch and converted it to become their village. Neighboring farmers have been trying every way possible to lay claim to the land and take it into their villages instead, and they filed a lawsuit against the village (named Matebete village). Three weeks ago the judge in the Mbeya High Court released his ruling and dismissed the farmers’ complaint. So for the moment, that village is safe, said Kelly Askew.
The number of conflicts appears to be increasing steadily in spite of the fact that recently enacted policies and laws have the officially stated objectives of reducing land conflicts and protecting the land rights of Tanzanians. Many pastoralist are being deprived form their lands and remain at risk. The higher up the ladder of authority one goes, however, the scales of justice tip alarmingly in the direction of those with means, says Kelly Askew. Pastoralists across Tanzania are in need of legal assistance and international support. Nevertheless, the recent dismissal of farmers’ complaints by the Mbeya High Court has brightened the future for many. Might this signify a step of hope towards positive change in future legal reforms and a common agreement in disputes between farmers and pastoralists, or even a call to the GoT for the recognition of indigenous people’s rights? There is no easy answer or once-and-for-all solution to the land problems in Tanzania.
Information for this report was gathered over the time period of December 2013 – February 2014. Supporting sources of updated information: interview with the associate professor Kelly Askew conducted on the 18th of December 2013 and her latest update, received on the 12th of February, 2014. Articles quoted in the report:
Askew K., Maganga F. and R. Odgaard. 2013. Of Land and Legitimacy: a Tale of Two Lawsuits. Africa 83: 120-141.
Askew K. 2013. Negotiated Outcomes in Low – Recourced Courts: Tanzania‘s Land Tribunal System. Yet Unpublished (in print).
By Sandra Bogdanova, a student in the Master’s in Indigenous Studies program, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.