The colonial histories of Southern African countries have influenced the land reform debate. But whether land is in the hands of a white minority or a black elite, redistribution in favour of the poor remains an emotive issue. Countries that were "settled" under colonialism - Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe - share a similar profile of racially skewed land distribution, dual tenure systems based on received law and customary law, and a dispossessed black rural population confined to degraded and overcrowded communal lands.