Abstract: | This paper deals with equity and equality in Zimbabwe. In section 1 the author discusses the two terms. Section 2 presents a number of concepts of equity. It illustrates their relevance to planners' concerns by matching them to criteria in Zimbabwe for selecting people for resettlement, and by looking at rules for access to grazing and at the issue of positive discrimination. Section 3 provides a fuller, theory-based, list of concepts. Section 4 studies a series of public statements by leaders in Zimbabwe on debt and rights to land, to show how these various criteria of equity and appropriate distribution are locally employed. Section 5 introduces some possible explanations for the presence of multiple criteria, such as sociopolitical conflicts or plurality, opportunism, or the insufficiency of any one criterion or approach, and it also notes some arguments as to how the criteria could be combined. Section 6 provides the conclusion. |