Page 377 - Volume 2_CHANGES_merged_with links

African Solutions for African Problems

Their country. Their people. Their culture.

That's one aspect of property sales in rural Africa.
Another is the way they regard land and how the sale of land, no small the plot,

becomes a family matter which can only be decided after all members of the family are

consulted and can agree. The land may be owned by the father in title but it is owned by all.
Negotiations on such property sales can take many months as it takes a lot of time to

summon distant family members and co-ordinate family gatherings.
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Contrast the above with an article in one of my most loved of m'zuŋ u publications, The
Economist.

Having given a good description of rural land tenure ...
“ Perhaps 90% of rural land in Africa is not formally documented. Just 4% of African countries

have mapped and titled the private land in their capital cities. Well-meaning reformers have
often neglected the myriad other factors affecting whether titles are useful or not, such as
custom, other laws and the capacity of the state to enforce people's legal property rights. They

have also underestimated the ability of vested interests, such as traditional leaders and urban
elites, to obstruct reform.”

The author then clearly evidences the African value of land ownership
“According to a survey by Prindex, a research group, nearly half of women in sub-Saharan Africa

worry that they would lose land if they were divorced or widowed. And also of the trust in
traditional registration of title.

In sub-Saharan Africa formal title seems to bring less additional security of tenure than it does
in other parts of the world. In July Prindex published results of a 140-country survey on how
secure people feel in their properties. It found that there was only a small difference in

perceived security between sub-Saharan Africans with formal documentation (70%) and those
without (65%). This was the lowest gap anywhere.”

And much of the article clearly demonstrates a very real understanding of property issues
in Africa. But at the outset of the article the author clearly states the main thrust of his

article :
“ Twenty years ago Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian economist, published "The Mystery of

Capital", in which he argued that, without formal title, the real estate on which billions of poor
people live and work is "dead capital". He estimated these assets to be worth $9.3trn ($13.5trn

in today's money).”
"The Quest for Secure Property Rights in Africa." 430
The Economist, (September 2020)