Abstract
Land reform has been one of the strategies used by post-colonial African governments to confront poverty among their vulnerable populace. Colonial governments had used military prowess and unjust laws to violently or fraudulently dispossess indigenous people of their land in favour of whites. This left rural areas inhabited by blacks undeveloped. However, when examining the impact of land reform on development, existing studies often underestimate the implications of structural differences between countries, which usually determine the effectiveness of land reform. This has practical and policy implications. To close this gap, this article explores the potential of land reform as a development strategy in South Africa and Zimbabwe, focusing on opportunities and challenges. Using a qualitative literature review, the article argues that the structural differences between the two countries' populations as agriculturalists and the nature of political leadership present the most opportunities but also challenges for inclusion, equality, resource access, ownership, and utilisation. The article concludes that the effectiveness of land reform in South Africa is slowed down by the low agrarian nature of its population. In agrarian Zimbabwe, disorganised policies, international isolation, corruption, nepotism, charisma, patronage, and climate change natural hazards have undermined the potential of land reform as a development strategy.