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Wallace Ruzvidzo, Harare Bureau

ALL land held by beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme under 99-year leases, offer letters and permits, will now be held under a bankable, registrable and transferable document of tenure to be issued by Government, President Mnangagwa has said.

To ensure the smooth facilitation of the process, Government has with immediate effect issued an indefinite moratorium on the issuance of any new 99-year leases, offer letters and permits for agricultural land.

In implementing the new policy, priority will be given to veterans of the liberation struggle, youths and women.

In addition, security of tenure to all agricultural land regularised under this programme will, at all times, only be transferable among indigenous Zimbabweans and the land targeted for the new land tenure system will exclude communal land that is under the jurisdiction of traditional Chiefs.

In a statement issued on his behalf by Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere, at a post-Cabinet media briefing in Harare yesterday, President Mnangagwa said under this new document, beneficiaries of the Land Reform programme would now have enhanced security of tenure to the land they legitimately hold.

“These agricultural and urban land measures will have a huge impact on our economic growth and will unlock the full value of the land while enhancing the performance of our economy.

“This will facilitate accelerated investments in agriculture and associated value chains, which include irrigation, dam construction, power supply, and rural road construction.

“The economic value enhancement on land will further unlock resources for the fulfillment of Constitutional obligations related to land reform.

“All these measures will complement current efforts towards an upper middle-income economy, which will be achieved by 2030,” he said.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere addresses the media during the 27th post-Cabinet briefing in Harare recently

In addition to the document of tenure on agricultural land, President Mnangagwa said urban land would only be made commercially available to credible and approved land developers who will be expected to add value to the land in compliance with relevant laws and protocols.

“Ultimately, the goal is to establish high-quality housing developments in fulfillment of our vision of an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

“Areas that are not in use within cities will be considered for urban development. Urban renewal, urban transformation and regularisation will also be given priority,” he said.

To ensure seamless implementation of the measures, President Mnangagwa has constituted a Cabinet Oversight Committee chaired by Defence Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri to lead this reform process.

A technical committee dubbed the Land Tenure Implementation Committee (LTIC) which will co-ordinate and steer the implementation of this process will also be constituted.

“These Committees will work diligently to develop improved security of tenure for land beneficiaries while ensuring that the value of agricultural and urban State land value is fully unlocked to guarantee inclusive and nationwide economic development.

“Detailed terms of reference have been developed for the two committees. Government will put in place all the necessary institutional and logistical mechanisms to ensure the smooth co-ordination and implementation of these new policies and objectives,” he said.

“Accordingly, Government hereby forthwith issues an indefinite moratorium on the issuance of any new 99-year leases, offer letters and permits for agricultural land.”

President Mnangagwa said the new measures were aimed at addressing challenges faced by Zimbabwean farmers, including access to financing, the absence of security of tenure and threat to land tenure among others.

“While our people are endowed with agricultural land, resulting from progressive Government policies, they continue to grapple with the following challenges: 1. Difficulty in accessing affordable, appropriately structured and adequate finance for sustainable commercial agriculture.

“2. In the absence of security of tenure, the farmers are not sufficiently motivated to invest adequately and to develop robust infrastructure on their farms for sustainable production, 3. The threat to land tenure, especially to successors entitled to and held by beneficiaries of the land reform programme (such as children of war veterans) arising from inheritance and fraudulent succession issues,” he said.

The President also noted that while Government had conceived and implemented positive programmes, there had been varying levels of accountability from farmers, with a significant proportion feeling no obligation to pay back loans advanced.

Consequently, he said, Government had remained saddled with debt emanating from unpaid agricultural loans by many farmers.

President Mnangagwa

The menace of land barons, said President Mnangagwa, had posed another threat as they had little or no regard for the country’s town and country planning laws and policies.

“Against this background and in line with Section 292 of the Constitution read together with Sections 289, 293 and 294 that obligates the State to give security of tenure to every person and to alienate for value agricultural land among other requirements, Government will implement the following measures: All land held by beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme under 99-year leases, offer letters and permits, will now be held under a bankable, registrable and transferrable more secure document of tenure, to be issued by the Government of Zimbabwe to beneficiaries,” he said.

President Mnangagwa went on to reiterate that the Land Reform Programme was irreversible.

“The Land Reform Programme was carried out for the purpose of divesting ownership of agricultural land from the minority white farmers to the black majority people of Zimbabwe.

“The rationale of the land reform was to address the inequalities that existed during the colonial era and to ensure that every Zimbabwean had equitable access to this finite resource.

“The Constitution and other legislative provisions that deal with the administration of agricultural land have mechanisms and safeguards to ensure that the legacy and benefits of the land reform are protected and that land reform is irreversible,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said it was encouraging to note that the youth had taken up the mantle and become more active players in the agriculture sector.

He assured the nation that the Second Republic would continue creating an enabling environment for farmers countrywide.

“The noticeable new paradigm amongst Zimbabwean farmers, especially the majority of beneficiaries of the land reform, is to regard and conduct farming as a business; as a source of both livelihood and means to increasing personal economic value.

“Our young people have positively embraced the land reform programme and now account for a significant proportion of the country’s commercial farmers. The Government has since 2008, put in place various programmes to assist farmers to be productive on the land.

“This support includes the Baccossi Inputs and Mechanisation Equipment, Maguta, and The Special Grains Import Substitution Programme, among others.

“In the Second Republic, the country has witnessed and benefitted from the Government’s deliberate and complementary policy of incorporating accelerated infrastructure development which includes road construction and rehabilitation incorporating the much-needed rural roads, dam construction; irrigation; and housing development,” said President Mnangagwa.