Customary institutions give way to land courts in Tanzania

Conflicts over land are rampant in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last couple of decades, a number of countries have sought to reform their land court systems in order to better handle these conflicts. However, our knowledge about the implementation of these reforms is still limited. In a book chapter in a new book, The State the Paradox of Customary Law in Africa, DIIS senior researcher Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen analyses Tanzania’s experience in this regard.

In his chapter, ‘State-orchestrated access to land dispute settlement in Africa – land conflicts and new wave land reform in Tanzania’, Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen argues that in Tanzania, the land reform has reinforced trends towards a more formal land administration and land court system that have been going on for decades. However, customary practices persist, in particular when it comes to settling disputes within families and ethnic groups. Whereas this provides for easy access to land dispute settlement it has profound consequences for women.