Student Number : 0311118P - MA research report - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Arts / Land reform in Southern Africa has attracted a lot of attention from sovereign third world government and those of developed countries. This followed the invasion of commercial farms in Zimbabwe and has a bearing on Zimbabwe’s neighbours especially Namibia and South Africa. This paper examines why governments at times adhere to land reform within the rule of law and at times does not, resulting in strained donor-government relations. A comparison of government-donor relations in Zimbabwe and Namibia is explored. The crux of the argument is that land reform is damaging when the rule of law is flouted by governments. Strained relations are a result of ineffective agencies of restraint, lack of commitment by the governments, external donors and white commercial farmers to correct land injustices that came into existence as a result of settler colonialism.