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Research ArticleArticle

“To Serve Administrative Purposes and Native Interests?”

Road Infrastructural Investment in African Reserves in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1924–1948

Clement Masakure and Eric Kushinga Makombe
African Economic History, November 2023, 51 (2) 24-51; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/aeh.51.2.24
Clement Masakure
Clement Masakure ([email protected]) is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of the Free State, South Africa.
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Eric Kushinga Makombe
Eric Kushinga Makombe ([email protected]) is a Research Fellow in the History Department at the University of the Free State and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, Heritage and Knowledge Systems at the University of Zimbabwe. His broad research interests are in urban history, agrarian and development studies, human economy and sustainability, rural-urban linkages and rural development, and more recently climate change. Some of his articles have appeared in Global Environment and the Journal of Developing Societies.
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Abstract

Based on archival material from the Natives Reserves Trust, this study examines the history of infrastructural development in African areas in colonial Zimbabwe. The article historicizes a generally neglected theme in Zimbabwe’s economic history: road investments in what were called African reserves. It addresses the themes around the nature of infrastructure in the countryside, funding of rural infrastructure, labor mobilization for road construction and the impact thereof on African areas. Furthermore, the article addresses the question behind the colonial state’s need to improve road infrastructure in rural areas. It notes that although colonial officials emphasized the development aspects that would come with improved road infrastructure and some Africans benefited from the improved road network, it was mainly whites and the colonial state that benefited more. Improved roads enabled white traders and colonial officials to have a greater presence in reserves. Furthermore, colonial officials coerced Africans into providing labor services for road building and maintenance, while improved roads facilitated the reorganization of rural areas to promote colonial policies. Ultimately, the improvement of roads in African areas entrenched further unequal access to land between Africans and Europeans in colonial Zimbabwe.

KEYWORDS:
  • roads
  • African reserves
  • development
  • colonial Zimbabwe
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African Economic History: 51 (2)
African Economic History
Vol. 51, Issue 2
1 Nov 2023
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“To Serve Administrative Purposes and Native Interests?”
Clement Masakure, Eric Kushinga Makombe
African Economic History Nov 2023, 51 (2) 24-51; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.51.2.24

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“To Serve Administrative Purposes and Native Interests?”
Clement Masakure, Eric Kushinga Makombe
African Economic History Nov 2023, 51 (2) 24-51; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.51.2.24
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Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • A Brief Overview of the State of Roads up to 1948
    • “Unacknowledged Capital”: African Contribution to Road Works
    • Catalysts of Economic Development?
    • Roads, Administration, and Reorganization of Rural Areas
    • Conclusion
    • Footnotes
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  • References
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Keywords

  • roads
  • African reserves
  • development
  • colonial Zimbabwe
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