Title: Impact of land tenure systems on land conflicts : Swaziland - a country case study
Abstract: Land tenure problems have gained worldwide prominence in the past few years. The pressure of high population growth, the increases in resource degradation, specific
food shortages and regional resource conflicts have brought the land issue into the
public sphere. Swaziland is no exception to this trend. In order to utilise the land
resource more efficiently (i.e., land use, land management and administration) and
solve some long-standing land-related issues (e.g., chieftaincy disputes and other
tenure arrangements standoffs such as the farm dwellers problem), this country has
embarked on land policy formulation since 1996. There are two major categories of
land tenure in Swaziland: Swazi nation land and title deed land or freehold tenure of
land. This article attempts to relate land tenure arrangements in Swaziland to land
conflicts and seeks to identify their possible causes. It is observed that the much-awaited land policy should identify and codify clear mechanisms to prevent such
conflicts and / or resolve them if they occur. The following factors have been identified
as potential sources of land conflicts: inequitable access to land and gender bias,
overpopulation on Swazi nation land, land degradation, tenure insecurity, farm
squatting and land scarcity, speculative trends in the land market, slow socio-cultural
changes and lack of control due to non-existence of land rights.
Publication Year: 2006
Publication Date: 2006-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 10
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