Insider mediation training helped halt evictions in Zimbabwe

Read Owen Dhliwayo’s story!

Owen Dhliwayo with community members who face eviction before they head into a training on land rights in Chipinge district, Zimbabwe. Photo © Owen Dhliwayo

Communities in the Chipinge district of Zimbabwe are facing dispossession. Nearly 1,800 households have already been forcibly displaced to clear land for the establishment of an ethanol plant. In addition, nearly 1,000 households have been served eviction notices by the government. In Zimbabwe, evictions have been flooding the nation. People have been forced from their homes to make room for new businesses. Conflicting interpretations of the Zimbabwean constitution that prioritise the land rights of religious leaders have prolonged this issue.

To solve this conflict and bring more clarity to the situation, our local insider mediator Owen Dhliwayo started a mediation process. In a series of mediation meetings, he brought together relevant conflict stakeholders, including people who had been evicted as well as institutional leaders, to showcase the different perspectives and work towards the various parties understanding each other’s positions. Through this dialogue process, he managed to facilitate an agreement between the conflicting parties that settled the issues that caused land-based disputes.

Parallel to Owen’s mediation efforts, civil society organisations of the Chipinge district went to the local courts and demanded the current eviction policybe altered. Since the courts and other parties to the conflict saw the success of Owen‘s efforts, they proposed another dialogue session with him and other insider mediators in order for all conflict stakeholders to reach an agreement peacefully. This proved to be a shift in culture in understanding the value of mediation in the Chipinge district.

The Insider Mediation Training helped me gain a better understanding of what conflict transformation could look like in Chipinge.Owen Dhliwayo

Owen had taken part in our training with Africa University where the participants learned about theoretical and practical foundations for the sustainable transformation of conflict. “The Berghof Foundation and Africa University’s Insider Mediation Training helped me gain a better understanding of what conflict transformation could look like in Chipinge. It imparted mediation skills that focused on reaching a solution via consensus and dialogue and stressed the importance of strategic coordination, flexible mandates, and appropriate timelines that fit all parties,” says Owen about his experience at the training.

Thanks to Owen’s groundwork, the Chipinge Rural District Council has acknowledged that arbitrary evictions increase the vulnerability of communal land and livelihoods and undermine the local economy. The Council has halted arbitrary evictions and traditional leaders are now in the process of implementing a law that will protect and secure access to land in the district.

This project is made possible through the generous support of the European Union.

Contact

Elisabeth Meyer
Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager
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