ABSTRACT
The government of Zimbabwe has embarked on a reform which is said as well to pivot on the politics of decentralizing rural development. Based on the early days of its implementation, the reform is not primarily about decentralization or politics or rural development. Much of the development literature continues to give attention to government decentralization, the discussion of which is often cast in terms of a development narrative about the “politics of decentralization. The main tenure categories in rural areas are: commercial, with commercial subdivided into large-scale commercial and small-scale commercial; communal land; and resettlement areas. Politics of the countryside course through much of the literature on Amalgamation and its enacting legislation, the Rural District Councils Act of 1988. A quick survey of local official concerns over rural district councils would conclude Amalgamation has little chance of success.
