The State and the Land Question in Botswana.

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the state and the land question in Botswana. It asserts that land is an important factor of production that determines the life chances of the rural population. This paper discusses the broad forms of land tenure and how they fit in the political and economic structure of the country. Invariably it emerges that the state has been used as an instrument of capital accumulation for the purposes of acquiring land, especially for cattle production. The drive towards capital accumulation has led to the individualisation of land tenure, which undermines communal land tenure as well as the infringement of land rights of Basarwa. This paper concludes that the privatisation of the land, and more broadly the enclosure process, has led to the alienation of poor peasants and Basarwa from land. As a result, rural society is increasingly polarised into two classes, those who own land and those who are alienated from it.


Review of Southern African Studies Volume 3 No. 1 June 1999, pp. 177-216