Politics of Land Resource Management in Mozambique

Mozambique’s 1997 Land Law was praised by international donors and the country’s own civil society for its democratic and open drafting process. The process included public hearings throughout the country and the recognition of customary law. However, once it became operational, there were many instances of so-called land grabbing. This chapter argues that the reason for this lies in the political operation of the law rather than in the technicalities of its application. This chapter aims to explore the political dynamics in Mozambique that distort the implementation of the Land Law of 1997. The land law in Mozambique was developed with the technical support of international donors, and the government of Mozambique followed these external trends in the expectation of receiving financial support and private investment while it also reflected the axis of conflictin Mozambique’s domestic politics. The case studies show that the operation of land law has resulted in the emergence of party-political oppositional axes in rural areas. These facts suggest that the specific political environment strongly influences the process of law-making and implementation. Mozambique’s political environment is an obstacle to achieving the law’s original objectives of establishing rights to land resources and social stability.