Based on 2002 fieldwork in four rural communities in Manica Province. Divided into 5 sections: overview – main points; case studies and methodology; effects of the 1997 Land Law in rural communities; problems encountered during implementation; recommendations; conclusion. Includes suspicion of the legal system, effects of legal knowledge, greater awareness of rights, class inequalities, conflicts between political parties, corruption and ignorance of local officials, attitudes to investors. Concludes that the Land Law is facilitating monumental changes in the consciousness of rural small scale farmers and slowly accomplishing everything it set out to do and more, actively granting rural peasants rights and a means through which they can secure those rights.