The Tanzanite Fence: Mineral Enclosures, Local Rights and Livelihoods in Tanzania

Abstract

The ‘tanzanite fence’ was constructed purportedly to establish legal boundaries for the tanzanite mineral deposits at Mirerani in Arusha, Tanzania, and hence ensure the security of the area. The ‘tanzanite fence’ is used in this article as a metaphor to demonstrate how legal and policy reform processes in the extractive sector construct (in)accessibility. Conceptually, the article draws insights from the space production literature to argue that, across Africa, natural resource policy and legal reforms are designed to produce space for powerful actors, mostly private multinational organisations, while limiting the access and ownership rights of already powerless communities, thereby affecting local livelihoods. In the context of this article, the physical fence is a manifestation of reforms supported since the 1990s by different actors whose intentions were to secure and protect their tanzanite business interests. Yet, neither these actors (who represent multinational firms and businesses) nor the government accepts responsibility for the livelihood insecurities caused by the denial of access to pasture and water for the Maasai pastoralists. The article concludes that although mineral-sector reforms facilitated the government’s increase in revenue collection, measures such as fencing have exacerbated the marginalisation of the local people in those areas. It also contributes to the literature on the marginalisation of local communities living in resource-rich areas, which has paid insufficient attention to fence-making and space production as agents of exclusion. The article furtherrecommends that, given the complexities of such practices imposed on its citizens, the government should take due diligence, provide compensation for the loss of land and other resources to local communities removed from certain areas for development projects, and ensure the public has sufficient information about their land rights. Keywords: