By Survival International, November 4, 2011
The Hazda tribe's land titles being formally handed over at a special ceremony |
One of the very few hunter-gatherer tribes in east Africa has been celebrating the recognition of its land rights.
The
land titles were formally handed over at a special ceremony held last month in
the Hadza community of Domongo.
It is
the first time that a Tanzanian government has formally recognized a minority
tribe’s land rights.
Doroth
Wanzala, the Assistant Commissioner for Land in the Northern Zone told those
attending the ceremony, ‘We have resolved that the Hadza should be given
official title deeds to ensure that the country’s last hunter-gatherers are not
troubled by land-hungry-invaders, particularly in the wake of scramble for
land.’
Naftali
Kitandu, a Hadza representative said, ‘Invasion by other tribes who bring along
herds of cattle and introduce farming in the valley has been threatening the
survival of Hadza people who only depend on fruits, roots, honey and small
animals for survival.’
Following
the ceremony, one Hadza told Survival, ‘We are very happy. Now we need to make
sure we get land titles for other Hadza communities.’
The
Hadza are a small tribe of about 1,500 hunter gatherers living in north-west
Tanzania. They speak a click language.
Until
the 1950s they survived entirely by hunting and gathering. Living in small
mobile camps, they had no ‘chiefs’ or formal political organization. Since then
life has become increasingly hard as larger pastoralist tribes have encroached
on much of their land, destroying much of the wildlife and plants on which the
Hadza rely for their livelihoods.
A
number of NGOs, including the Ujamaa Community Resource Team, supported the
Hadza’s long quest for land rights. The organization’s lawyer, Edward ole
Lekaita, said: ‘Indeed, this is a great achievement and successful story in the
struggle of protecting Hadza’s livelihood for a promising future.’
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