During colonial rule, land conflicts were
common since the natives struggled to reclaim landownership and use rights.
Among the most notable uprisings in colonial Tanganyika was the maji maji war
in southern parts of the country between 1905 and 1907. One of the main aims of
this uprising against German colonial rule to was to reclaim fertile land that
had been grabbed by the colonial masters for agricultural use.
Even after independence, proper
reorganization of landownership has not been possible. Widespread protests
resulted from the pillarization programmer of the 1970s. Arguably, the
programmer did not adequately take into account the needs of pastoral
communities, and this turned out to be a source of conflict between the
parastatal organizations that were established across the country and
pastoralists. Among the land conflicts that have been cited is one between the
National Agriculture and Food Corporation (NAFCO) and the Barbaig
agro-pastoralists in the Hanang District (Shivji, 1996).
In 1992, the Presidential
Commission was formed to probe the land disputes in the country. The
commission's report shows that the genesis of land conflicts was the pillarization
programmer of the 1970s and that to resolve the matter, it was necessary to
settle land disputes in the judicial system. Further, the Land Policy of 1995
underscores the reason for issuance of village land certificates to the owners
and also restoration of tenure that provides for ranch lands for the
pastoralists. Nevertheless, it has not been possible to implement these
recommendations since the nomadic pastoralist communities demand vast grazing
areas amid widening demands from a variety of other land users as population
growth pressure mounts.5
Aikaeli and Laseko (2015)
explain the tense land conflicts in several places in the country at the
present as a result of informality and lack of a proper land titling system.
Incidences of conflicts between individuals and between groups due to scramble
for land in the recent past have taken place in both urban and rural areas. In
urban areas, land conflicts are mostly a result of inaccurate information in
the registration records of surveyed areas; corrupt allocation of some plots to
more than one owner; arbitrary changes of land use for other purposes than the
predetermined ones, for example, the reallocation of open spaces to
construction; lack of transparency and the existence of elements of corruption
in the registration process; etc. There have been more conflicts in rural than
in urban areas owing to a number of factors, but the most common conflicts have
been between livestock keepers and crop farmers and between investors in
natural resource extraction and individuals and societies engaged in farming
activities.
Areas where land conflicts
were severe include Loliondo (regarding land use for farming vs. natural
resource extraction), Tarime, Kilindi, Kilosa, Kiteto, Usangu plains, Mahenge,
Mbarali, Hanang and Kilombero, inter alia.
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