While in most cases land-based conflicts in the rural areas have their origins in boundaries of farms, the disagreement between the two families was over a piece of land for building a house.
One could rightly say that Mandawa settlement is a village in an urban setting, with well-planned streets, a few retail outlets that sell more than just salt, sugar and kerosene, a barber’s shed and one or two kiosks for repairing mobile phones. At one corner in the village, there is a small shop that specialises in selling only kitenge and khanga.
With the increasing awareness of the value of land among communities, the conflict between the two families did not come as surprise.
“We have had conflicts in this village but almost all have been about farms; this was a rare case,” explained Juma Mkumba, secretary of Mshikamano Youth Group that was formed with support from the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) as part performance of the Ardhi Yetu Programme.
This programme aims to raise awareness of the value of land among rural communities. The programme also empowers youth and women to mobilise villagers to demand protect the right to legally occupy land and take a leading role in resolving land disputes.
“Usually such a case would have been handled by the village land tribunal, but the members could not find a solution the first time when the case was discussed.
“There was also a delay in scheduling another meeting and as the relationship between the two families became worse, our group intervened and found a solution that was accepted by both parties,” Mkumba told a group of JET member who were in the district to follow up on the implementation of the programme.
Giving details, he explained that at the centre of the problem was an open space between houses of the two families that each claimed to be the rightful owner. When the group visited the contested area in their first attempt to provide a solution to the conflict, Lukumbi and Mohamed showed different boundaries that favoured each of them and gave a bigger share of the plot.
“In our first meeting we explained to them why it was important to agree to a lasting solution because neighbours must live in peace. We told them that the answer to the problem lay in dividing the plot into two equal parts so that none of them would be favoured,” explained Issa Njechele, a member of the group.
The journalists, who were in Kilwa and Rufiji districts recently, visited the contested plot and was shown the beacons that were erected by the group.
“I don’t have any grudges now; the solution provided by these young men was fair and just,” Lukumbi told the journalists. Mohamed was not in the village to give his testimony, but Lukumbi assured the journalists that his neighbour was happy with how the conflict had been resolved and had no complaints.
In Matandu village the youth group, Maendeleo Group, has not been as successful as their counterparts in Mandawa.
“The influx of pastoralists in the village has led to conflicts between them and the natives who are farmers. Besides grazing their herds in farms, pastoralists do not respect local customs and traditions. Locals resent this habit of the newcomers,” explained Mwarami Abdala, chairman of the group.
“But the village government does not allow us to mediate these conflicts because they say they are under the jurisdiction of the village land tribunal,” he said, adding that although the tribunal is a statutory body, its formation does not meet the requirement of the law.
The tribunal has two women out of the seven members while the requirement is that there should be at least three women members in the tribunal.
However, there is another problem, a more serious one.
“Members of the tribunal do not know their roles and know little about the basic rules and regulations governing land administration in the village. Many conflicts here have gone unresolved,” explained Mwajuma Mkoti, a member of the group.
And as if that was not bad enough, when members of the group undergo training on various land issues, the village government does not give them the opportunity to share their knowledge with villagers.
“This has really discouraged the group,” she said.
Bakari Amanzi, chairman of Matandu village government, conceded that there was a rift between the village government and the youth group.
“This group was formed when we were not in office and no one introduced us to their work when we assumed leadership. Obviously we should have been suspicious of their activities but now that you have explained to us who they are and what they do, whatever difference that existed previously have been resolved and we are ready to work with them in order to resolve land disputes in the village,” he said.
In Nyamwage village of Rufiji district, the Sauti ya Mkulima youth group has gone beyond conflict resolution - they mobilize villagers to demand to be allocated land, for those who have none, even if they are not going to develop the whole of it immediately.
Individual group members, in particular, must acquire land and use it accordingly so that they can set an example to other villagers.
“There are a lot of people from outside the district and the region whose number increases by the day. Locals here do not care much about land because there is still plenty of it, but time will soon come when there will be none and that will breed very serious conflicts,” explained Majaliwa Luhajo, a member of the group.
“And for those who own land, we advise them not to sell it because it is their only earthly procession; it is actually their only source of their livelihood. If they sell it, they will be so poor that they will become beggars and maybe work for those to whom they will sell their land for a very small pay,” he said, adding that selling land indiscriminately defeats the purpose of land use planning as the new owner may decide to use the land for a different purpose.
Motomoto is an all-women group at Ikwiriri in Rufiji district. Their major activity since the beginning of the year has been to advocate procession ofevidence of ownership of land through Customary Certificates of Right of Occupancy (CCRO).
“There are many people from Dar es Salaam and other cities who come here to buy land. There are also residents of this township who are conmen and are ready to sell land which is not theirs. Under the circumstance, everyone who owns land must have some legal evidence to prove their claim,” explained Sijawa Rajabu.
“It is particularly important for us women to have the certificates because men have a lot of things to do and don’t care about land. If we lose whatever land we have, our families will get into problems,” she said.
In empowering women to protect land and deal with land-grabbing and treachery, the Ardhi Yetu programme introduced a special component through which over 50 women in the district have been provided with mobile phones in order to communicate land issues between themselves and with land administrators as well as government officials at village and district levels.
In one case, Pili Mmipi of Ngumburuni village in the district used a mobile phone provided by the programme to report an attempt to sell land illegally.
“That morning I saw Fataki with three other men going around Hadija Jafari’s farm. He seemed to be showing the men the boundaries of the farm, but it wasn’t his farm and I suspected he was trying to sell it. So I called the village chairman and told him about it,” Mmipi told the journalists.
The chairman arrived at the scene in the company of a member of Moto Moto Group and in the discussion that transpired, it came to light that the plot belonged to one Hadija Jafari and the man who had wanted to sell it was a dubious land dealer and conman. He was identified by only one name as Fataki.
The use of mobile phone and the high awareness of land rights among members of the community saved Hadija Jafari’s land from being sold illegally. Otherwise she would have lost it or taken a long and tedious process to get it back.
According to Pili Mmipi, Jafari lives in Ikwiriri township and rarely takes time to look after her property.
For rural families, access to land and the right to own it is important for food security, poverty alleviation. In order to achieve these it is crucial that they are guaranteed the security of the land they own and the security of their tenure.
These are basic requirements if the country is to attain economic development and indeed sustainable development.
.jpeg?itok=vCj6bCRe)
