accumulation by land dispossession and labor ... - Land Portal

worker died because of the working conditions. Cases of hallucinations in the course of
working - presumably due to work anxiety, poor nutrition and exhaustion - were also
reported.
From your presentation in Nairobi it seemed there was not work anymore due to the
stopping of production. This does not come out clearly here. And that although land now
was not being used by BioShape people could not get the use of it although they have
been trying. The possibility then that it is just held speculatively while depriving
communities of production opportunities seems a key and interesting point that we could
emphasize.
What about the issue of the district keeping 60% of the compensation given? That was
interesting in terms of how the community benefits little and bureaucrats and politicians
further away from the village could have real interests (even outside direct corruption) in
these investments coming in.
6.0 Conclusion
This ocassional paper has highlighted the challenges associated with land grabbing that
have been facing villagers in Kilolo District in Iringa and Kilwa District in Lindi since
2006. By tracing how New Forest Company and BioShape Tanzania Limited entered
these districts respectively in search of land for their investments, the paper has shown
how the processes of land acquisition in Tanzania tend to sanction land grabbing. In
regard to the first case, the paper has revealed, the prerequisite of determining the actual
size of village land and informing the villagers about it prior to its transfer to another
category of land provided for by Section 4 of the Village Land Act Number 5 of 1999
have been bypassed. Even in the second case in which this provision appear to have been
adhered to, the villagers have been left in the dark as they are not aware of the actual size
of their village land in relation to the land that has been transferred. Benefits such as new
employment opportunities and investments in the communities have been limited and
short-lived, in all cases falling far short of what communities expected when agreeing to
the initial investments.
As a result villagers have lost significant portions of their farmlands and forestlands
which have the potential of sustaining them irrespective of large-scale investments. In
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