Evolução e funcionamento da administração e propriedade da terra no distrito de Jangamo - Inhambane

Abstract

In pre-colonial times, occupation of the land gave rise to disputes between lineages, clans and ethnic groups. As it was necessary to ensure an equitable distribution among the members of the various existing communities, their administration was centralised in the figure of a chief, who was at the same time the administrative and military head. In Cumbana, when the Cumbana chief conquered the land, he replaced the local chiefs until then installed in the region, delegating administrative tasks and land ownership to the conquerors or members of the Cumbana clan. In this period, land was the collective property of the kingdom, lineage, clan, etc. In the colonial period, the colonial government took the land property of the state and gave the settlers only concessions or long-term lease (aforamento). However, conflicts arose between the local population and the Portuguese due to the attitude of some settlers to usurp land. As a way to respond to the increasing claims of land rights by the natives, the colonial government created mechanisms to mitigate these conflicts, such as the creation of so-called indigenous reserves, etc. But with regard to land, which was occupied by Africans its distribution continued to be based on customary rights systems, even in situations where the state did not legally recognise them. In the transition period, as well as after the proclamation of independence, the chiefs, land counsellors and other traditional chiefs, who were in charge of the application of customary laws, were ordered to officially cease their administrative functions (including land management), on the grounds that they were committed to the colonial regime and were structures of a traditional and feudal nature. In their place, new chiefs, known as secretaries of the driving groups, were appointed. But in practice, that is, within the lineages, land administration continued to be governed by customary practices; there was no immediate break with cultural habits on the part of the local population, it was a gradual process and in most cases the local population It was a gradual process and, in most cases, the local population did not abandon its habits and mechanisms for administering land tenure, maintaining them to this day, although with some modifications, that is; the mechanisms did not remain static over time. (TRADUÇAO NOSSA)