Development and Distributive Politics

This chapter seeks to demonstrate how urban land has often been used by Zimbabwean politicians to trap the youth. In light of this, the chapter argues that the interplay of the factors of production (land, labor, capital, and enterprise) crystallizes into a matrix of persuasions, contradictions and thought that explain multiple rationalities behind the development and distributive politics. It engages document review and a case study approach in which various policies and programs and project initiatives have been started by the government since 1980, including the building brigades and cooperative housing production in the early 1980s, the institution of the national youth ministry and policy and the administration of the kurera/ukondla youth fund. The chapter suggests that the distributive arrangements for resources be based on innovativeness, acumen and skill by the youth, based on merit and credibility.