Land Grab compromises Food Sovereignty in Southern Africa

The ongoing rush to African land by national and transnational investors was a dominant theme at the People’s Dialogue and Summit being held at Mumemo in Maputo.

From Mozambique to Swaziland, passing through Angola, South Africa, Malawi, Namibia and Lesotho, the voices and experiences of the people have expressed mounting concerns about the increasing enclosure of land to promote large-scale investments that seriously affect the fundamental rights of the local population and compromise efforts to achieve food sovereignty.

‘Everyone knows the problem of the land. It is a complete invasion’, says Renaldo Chingore, a leader of the National farmers Union in Mozambique, UNAC.

Farmers Organizations and other Civil Societies: Strengthening Social Movements and Building resistance in SADC

The People’s Dialogue brought together rural activists, mining activists, women’s movements and small-scale farmers from around the region on the 13 and 14 August to analyse the multi-dimensional global crisis and the response by our governments. It is evident that the governments’ of the region are continuously favouring corporate and investors’ interest over the people and the environment.

Key areas discussed at the meeting were on food sovereignty, the extractive industry, energy and mega projects, land and water grabs, ecological justice and alternative religionalism. But more importantly participants deliberated on alternatives to the dominant capitalist model that keeps this region locked into natural resource exploitation dependency for export led economic growth. The analysis, problems, demands and actions were fed into the Southern African People’s Solidarity Network (SAPSN), which took place on the 15 and 16 August in Momemo Centre, Maracuence District, Maputo under theme “Reclaiming SADC for People’s Development – A People’s SADC Myth or Reality? Social Movements activists, civil society organisations came from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Swaziland, Lesotho, DRC and Mozambique.