Land reform or revolution?

Protesters calling for radical action

Can land reform be radical without being violent? BBC Africa Live wants to know your views and experiences.

In South Africa, a market-based approach to land reform is not working.

After 11 years of multi-racial, multi-party democracy, only 4% of land has been acquired from private owners for redistribution.

Some 80% of agricultural land is owned by white South Africans, who make up only 10% of the population - the legacy of apartheid laws.

The Landless People's Movement (LPM) is campaigning for the government to speed up the process.

In neighbouring Zimbabwe, land reform has had disastrous consequences for the economy.

In countries across Africa, rival groups - often nomads and farmers - frequently clash over access to land.

And, of course, it is not just Africa. In Brazil, where 3% of the population own two-thirds of the land, landless peasants have been fighting for agrarian reform.

Do you believe there can be land reform without revolution? Do you support a gradual or radical approach?

This debate is now closed. Thank you for your comments.

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Your comments:

The land issue in Africa is a ticking bomb ready to go off unless handled with great care. History might have been distorted things, but more and more young people are aware of their robbed rights and are ready to demand for them.
Mugambi Arimi, Kenya

Land reform is necessary in South Africa but not land revolution, although the two are difficult to separate. The ownership of the so much land by a minority is unethical, but the lesson from Zimbabwe is clear. The danger is that if it is done to gain votes, then famine and hunger will visit the most marginalised members of the society.
Oswell Rusinga, Zimbabwe

It does not have to be violent. Esther, Kenya

Zimbabwe's land reform was very peaceful. It is a revolution going on now. During the last 20 years there were a lot of measures taken, but Britain avoided playing its part. Now everyone blames Mugabe. Let us wait and see the next revolution before we blame it all to one man. Land is the backbone of Africans, no matter how poor they can be. Without land then they are nothing.
Madzeka Musanzikwa, Russia

In as much as land reform is targeted at changing existing land and power relations, shifting resources and benefits between individuals and groups, it is revolutionary. It does not have to be violent.
Esther, Kenya

What needs to be remembered is the way the land was taken away in the first place. Those who have it should be willing to at least share there laundered wealth.
Gaston Van Heerden, England

Everybody needs somewhere to stay. In Botswana we have land from our grandparents. If we suffer, we blame ourselves. Africa needs help, but land first.
Mahalo, Oduetse, Botswana/Hawaii

The bigger question should be who benefits from these politically driven reforms. I do not consider anything to be a revolution that leaves its citizens more poorer than before.
Kondwani Munthali, Lilongwe Malawi

In the West, few have land but it does not seem to cause the widespread social problems that it does in Africa. Zahir Jivraj, Kenya/UK

The debate on land reform seems to centre around the rather emotive subject of "belonging". The result of this is self-evident in Kenya, where governments have bought land and sub-divided it uneconomically. There has to be a change in policy to ensure that economically viable land does go to waste by sub-division. There needs to also be a change to the culture that demands people own land. In the West, few have land but it does not seem to cause the widespread social problems that it does in Africa.
Zahir Jivraj, UK (Kenyan)

Africa for Africans. We need justice and equality.
Michael Obong, USA

The corollary is that some 90% of taxes are paid by 10% of the population. SA must turn more people into net contributors of tax. So how about a property tax that is used to fund education. Land owners will either pay the tax that then funds education, or reduce the sizes of their holdings to be more economical, thus spreading land among people who will make it productive?
John O'Reilly, UK/Canada

I think the issue is being oversimplified. There is no group such as "whites" in South Africa which own 80% of the agricultural land. Most "whites" are not involved in agriculture. I'm sure the 80% mentioned is actually in the hands of less. When it gets redistributed (as it must be), will this imbalance be addressed? Should we encourage millions onto the farms to engage in subsistence agriculture? South Africa is almost a developed country and we don't want to go backwards. South Africans should also be careful about rewarding political favours with land as happened in Zimbabwe.
Fidza, UK/Zimbabwe

The issue of land redistribution in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, is inevitable. We all should realise that land is the very fabric on which human life is made and without it, one is as good as being lifeless. As a region (SADCC), we are all in this together and we should come up with a proper regional framework that each country should follow in the quest to correct the injustice.
Mulenga Besa, Zambian student in UK

Did somebody say in this forum that this a dangerous topic of discussion? I don't think so. I wish the BBC had given us this forum with all the facts about Zimbabwe from the start.
Jerome, Cameroon

Zimbabwe is currently starving to death. No one in Africa dares stand up to Mugabe because he is returning ancestral land to its original inhabitants and that desire runs strong with black Africans. The issue is both racial and political. As long as corrupt regimes can blame others for their problems, the longer they rally support and stay in power.
Brian Holdredge, Rhode Island, USA

There is always a decent way of doing things when you are taking it from your colonial rulers which by right belong to us, but the same decency was not respected when they initiated the facts.
Mutsawashe, Zimbabwean/USA

If you don't have a trained pilot to fly a plane, do you grab a flight attendant to take over?
Lee Slatter, Zimbabwe/USA

Expropriation based on race is wrong Bryant, USA

If this was land taken from white people they would not be being nice about it. Look at white settlers in America's history with the Indians. When will black people learn?
Peter Muli, USA

Expropriation based on race is wrong, particularly when the land in question was acquired fairly.
Bryant, USA

In South Africa there is still a lot of open & unproductive land. There should be regional centres where tractors can be rented, and fertilizers and seeds can be sold on credit. This would help the landless situation in South Africa and would help to slow the growth of shanty towns in the city.
Malcolm Oliver, USA

The land belongs to Africans because it was stolen Linda Ncube, Canada

Land area is finite and the redistribution process to all the eligible beneficiaries results in very small areas being allocated to each of the beneficiaries. No meaningful production can be achieved at a national level with such a setup.
Anthony Gwavava, Zimbabwe

I don't care what the people of Africa do with the land. It belongs to them because it was stolen.
Linda Ncube, Canada

You cannot decide who can and cannot own land on based on the colour of their skin. That is racism, no matter how you dress it up.
Ryan, Australia

Since the gap between the poor and the rich is so wide, what will they do with the land if given to them?
Che Che Eugene, Cameroon

The message from the landless in South Africa is loud and clear for President Thabo Mbeki and his ANC government to comprehend.
Max Blamoh, Monrovia, Liberia

Willing buyer/willing seller is fiction Tim, Botswana

If people were able to buy their own land or own homes there would not be this debate. Adequate education, empowerment and resources is lacking to realise the dream of effective redistribution. Willing buyer/willing seller is fiction.
Tim, Botswana

Land reform is absolutely necessary in South Africa. However the process of land reform must be orderly unlike what happened in Zimbabwe. Reform can be achieved without revolution if the whites in South Africa realise that a situation of 10% of the people owning 80% of the land is unattainable. People all over the world including Europe at some point in their history have had to fight for the right to access land and if the whites in South Africa do not cooperate with the government in making land available to the those who need it, a similar situation like what happened in Zimbabwe can not be ruled out with similar disastrous results.
Edward Mtetwa, Zimbabwe

A radical, peaceful and non-racial approach is quite possible. Jude Manga, Cameroon

Isn't it simply immoral and unfair for the whites, who account for just 10% of the South African population to hold 80% of the country's land? Trying to pamper them by making the land-reform process slow definitely does not serve the long-term purpose of peace and justice. A radical, peaceful and non-racial approach is quite possible.
Jude Manga, Cameroon

Luckily for the South Africans they still have the lessons from Zimbabwe fresh in their mind as they embark on this exercise. I have a lot of confidence in the Mbeki government.
Kanyma Harry, Zambia

It's shameful for one African to own land worth millions of dollars when another African is only worth the clothes on their back in their own country! I fear that the South African and Zimbabwean land issues might go down the same blighted path that the Kenyan land issue now finds itself, where politically connected families will "inherit" land from the white farmers through the so called "peaceful handovers" and "willing-buyer-willing-seller" schemes, and then 30 years down the road there will still be thousands of landless people in "independent countries".
Velma Kiome, Kenya

There can never be land reform without a revolution, the reason is simply because those involved in the redistribution are themselves selfish. They divide land without considering the lives of those affected and the economic implications of what they do. The best way out is to educate the people, get their input and finally formulate policies which will be acceptable to all and there will be no need for violence or a revolution.
Selorm Kpade, Accra, Ghana

How we can say apartheid is gone, and still have the 10% whites owning 80% land Almaz, Ethiopia

Under the apartheid regime native African houses were bulldozed and then re-settled in undesirable regions. I think the government should nationalise all land and re-distribute it based on logical and fair factors. How we can say apartheid is gone, and still have the 10% whites owning 80% land , this is a joke!
Almaz, Ethiopia

Land reform requires a revolution of a kind. For example in Sudan people are not able to own land because of a political imbalance. Most people have no access to loans to buy land of their own. I think revolution should be encouraged to achieve equal distribution of land!
Philip Jele, South Sudan

Independence marked the beginning of the chronic land grabbing culture Joseph Riwongole, Kenya

All communities involved need to realize that this will be a very painful process, no matter how it is done. I acknowledge that it is not the fault of land owners who were born into this situation, but neither is it the fault of landless Africans.
WG, Kenyan/USA

I come from north-western Kenya, where land is semi arid most of the year. Yet our forefathers lived there and they managed to breed and accumulate large herds of livestock. Then the colonialists came and took part of our land. When Kenya became independent in 1963, they left land to the Africans who were in power. Because of greed and self-centredness and the individualistic culture imparted by the colonialists, they grabbed more land from the local people, and this marked the beginning of the chronic land grabbing culture in Kenya to date. However, I believe there can be land reform without revolution if those with large chunks of land can agree to share with those neighbours without pieces of land.
Joseph Riwongole, Kapenguria, Kenya

If you have no land, you have no freedom.
Pal Gatkuoth Deng, Lincoln Nebraska, USA

This is a complex issue to deal with, however I highly suggest negotiation. The government must have a plan and the power and ability to use the land to the interest and productivity of the South African people and not just individuals.
Toudou M, UK

Land redistribution can be radical yet peaceful, but it must be fair and not racial. The Zimbabwe land redistribution seems to be done in a way to punish white farmers. This land can be taking from them through peaceful means.
Blessing Akiri Young, Liberian in the USA

It is not what you have, but what you do with what you have Zvondai Muchenje, Canada

It depends on whether the government involved believes in peaceful change and how long it takes to effect such change. Interestingly, white Zimbabwean farmers who lost out in the Mugabe land reforms have gone to Nigeria. Their new host country, I dare say, urgently needs land reform of a different sort.
Joshua Nedum, Nigeria

It is not what you have but what to do with what you have. The problem of Africans throughout Africa who are starving is not that they do not have land. It is because that they do not know how to use the land.
Zvondai Muchenje, Canada

The SA apartheid government and the then Rhodesian Government perfected agriculture in that part of the world. Unfortunately, their success did not come without violence - the forced removals of the natives. History has a way of repeating itself.
Gerald Mwaanga, Chicago, USA

The last thing South Africa wants is a similar situation to Zimbabwe.
Direko, SA

None of the African leaders has ever condemned Mugabe on land grabs. In fact, South Africa and possibly Namibia are sitting on the same time bomb. The Europeans should understand the traditional, cultural and not just economic value Africans attach to the land of their ancestors.
Shimwami K Mulenga, Zambia

Title deeds are the answer. Ownership creates protection & development. Revolution has taken Africa backwards over the last 50 yrs. Lets hope SA will have learnt from others mistakes.
Don Fraser, Australia

This should be a problem for the Europeans to solve.
Aminu Wouba, Cameroon

Land reform only works when the government is honest, else all the land ends up in the hands of the rich and well-connected rather than the peasants.
Amy, Massachusetts, USA

There is no nice way, but there is an equitable way.
Oliver Serafini, USA

The poor and indigenous were kicked out of their lands years ago. Maybe it is time the shoe fits on the other side.
Peninnah Wanjeri, Boston/USA

If a stick and carrot approach is applied probably the issue can be resolved more peacefully. Giving title deeds to peasants is not the sole factor for eradicating poverty.
Charles, Kampala

Let the progression of time and good governance look to the redistribution of land Des Currie, South Africa

In Kenya, land means citizenship and owning a title-deed means a lot.
Kisanya Vincent, Nairobi/Kenya

The sole objective of owning land, apart from residential land, in a functioning society or nation, is to keep such land in a productive state for the primary benefit of the country and its peoples. If the farming community currently provides that source, then it is best not to play political games to redistribute this land. Let the progression of time and good governance look to the redistribution of land so that production and peoples do not suffer the consequence of racial re-engineering.
Des Currie, Umdloti ,South Africa

Impossible in the meantime, simply, because there is no justice.
Ousman Njie, Cairo, Egypt

I think all land should be nationalised.
Tadiwa Nyandoro, UK

I do not own land in my own country, neither do most of my countrymen Percival Hall, Jamaica/USA

The question of land reform is all about race pride, and the argument is based on the view that whites should not own anything in Africa. I do not own land in my own country, neither do most of my countrymen. The situation is the same in just about every country: a minority of the people own majority of the land and agriculture sector. I have no problem with that. I'm just glad that somebody else takes care of farming and makes sure that stores in my area sell food products I need.
Percival Hall, USA

Even if the poor are given land, what will they do with it. They will eventually sell it back to the capitalists anyway. I don't think land distribution is the final answer.
Leon Nyerere, Sudan

Instead of redistributing land, tax the white farmers higher to subsidize education and the healthcare of the landless. Only, innovative solutions will be sustainable.
Jaffer, Tanzania

Land reform or revolution, all is devilish because it must be done by humans that are naturally imperfect. Africa has suffered much in radical policies like this and our land is defiled and lives wasted through wars and political issues like this. We are tired of all the artificial harms done to Africans by Africans. Enough is enough.
Echebiri Chuks, Ivory Coast

There are so many other ways of creating wealth than to disrupt other peoples' source of income. Anthony Arojojoye, Lagos, Nigeria

Land redistribution is of paramount importance, however it will best be achieved in such a manner that those who are meant to benefit do not end up suffering the most. South Africa is a beacon of light, Mr Mbeki, please tread carefully.
Haresh Keswani, India

I do not think that imparity in land possession is the major problem causing poverty for blacks. There are so many other ways of creating wealth than to disrupt other people's source of income. Remember the whites are also claiming citizenship of South Africa, which means they have rights to be termed Africans.
Anthony Arojojoye, Lagos, Nigeria

Unlike South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, which were colonised as white man's countries, Uganda was colonised as a black man's country. The indigenous kings and chiefs were the beneficiaries of the freehold system. Uganda depended on small holdings producing cotton and coffee, even employing migrant labour from neighbouring Rwanda-Burundi. The post independence's populist policies of nationalising land has led into land fragmentation and low production in both agriculture and livestock.
Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi, Uganda

The land reform going on in Africa is like a chess game that should be played tactfully.
Tsibu Amoh Mensah, New York, USA

Everyone wants to own a piece of land. Since the Narc Government came to power in Kenya in 2002, it has been trying to bring into effect some land reforms in a somewhat haphazard manner. The government has declared that a title deed is just a piece of paper, possessing it does not guarantee ownership. This has brought a lot of anxiety for both landowners and financial institutions that use title deeds as collateral. The value of land is therefore nose-diving.
James o. Kihali, Kenya

The land owner does not want to give his land, but the poor people need the land. So what do you think is going to happen? Hey! people let us get together and make the world a place to live in.
Oromo Odda, Oromia/ Ethiopia

The answer lies in the willingness of people to share Omorodion Osula, Boston, USA

No, there cannot be land reform without revolution, as it is a matter of interest. Though they really need the land, the people in South Africa need to think twice before they rush into it and learn from their nearest neighbours. It is not just about title-deeds. It is about mentality.
Kapinga Ntumba, Harare, Zimbabwe

Land is a precious asset, but revolution will only add and compound the existing problem. Peaceful negotiation and dialogue can help with land reform. In this day and age, we should employ non-violent approaches to resolving issues. While a title-deed is important, it is not the answer. The answer lies in the willingness of people to share and be considerate of their fellow human beings.
Omorodion Osula, Boston, USA

Land is one of the most important things in southern Sudan since the Sudan civil war came to end in January 2005. Many people are worried that the "powerful people" in the country will grab the land from ordinary people unless the new government issues very important laws.
Peter Tuach, Sudanese in USA

There is no nice way to ensure parity of land distribution Patrick Ayumu, Ghana

White supremacists stole Africa's most productive lands and let the indigenes rot away on unproductive lands. There is no diplomatic or "nice" way to ensure parity of land distribution. Even the law of natural justice does not hold it against people like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
Patrick Ayumu, Ghana

I can only advise that this subject is dangerous and sensitive to put on air.
Clinton, Senegal

I can only see the value of land reform if higher levels of food production can be achieved. There is no point giving land, just for famine and hunger to follow.
Tania, UK