THE elite and politically-powerful could be trying to sell the land they got during the land reform programme at zero cost after government announced a new model in which land would be transferable.
This is according to former Cabinet minister Walter Mzembi, who went into self-imposed exile at the height of the 2017 military coup.
Thousands of landless Zimbabweans got land under the chaotic fast-track land reform programme at the turn of the millennium when war veterans led the invasion of farms owned by white farmers, numbering to around 4 000.
The politically-connected also jumped onto the gravy train and some of them now own multiple farms, despite the one man one farm policy.
On Tuesday, government announced that beneficiaries of the programme would now hold land under more secure, bankable, registrable and transferable documents, enhancing their tenure security.
However, Mzembi smelt a rat.
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“It is the biggest heist by this class since independence driven by policy itself and done under very opaque processes with no constitutional provisions compliance, consent from the people (referendum), audits, compliance with one family one farm, maximum land sizes and just waking up bestowing title to a replacement black bourgeoisie whose criteria to land ownership only God knows and boom cash out,” Mzembi told NewsDay.
He argued that all the arrangements issued by the statement were a build-up on the second republic’s version of land reform.
“It is a policy reversal of the land reform programme as originally envisaged,” he said.
“There will be numerous, in fact, hundreds of ‘black fronted’ land ownership transactions by former occupiers and foreigners, as much as there is leased farming by the same today.”
Mzembi also expressed concern that the move could reverse the gains made in the land reform programme.
“It is a free ride by our own elite, no Bill to the elite beneficiaries (zero rate) and titling their unverified, unaudited, no trespass acquisitions,” he said.
On Tuesday, government said beneficiaries of the land reform programme will now have enhanced security of tenure to the land they legitimately hold.
“This new policy will invariably be informed by the following guidelines: a) Priority will be given to our Veterans of the Liberation Struggle, youths and women; b) Security of tenure to all agricultural land regularised under this programme, will at all time only be transferrable among indigenous Zimbabweans; and c) The land targeted for the new land tenure system will exclude communal land that is under the jurisdiction of traditional chiefs,” government said in a post-Cabinet statement on Tuesday.
It added: “Urban land will only be made commercially available to credible and approved land developers who will add value to the land in compliance with all relevant laws and protocols. Ultimately, the goal is to establish high quality housing developments in fulfilment of our vision of an upper-middle-income society 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.”
Economist Prosper Chitambara said the development was important for not only the land, but Zimbabwe’s economic development.
“I think it is critical in terms of ensuring the productive utilisation of the land and also unlocking full value, private sector investment and finance from private financial institutions while allowing land to be transferable,” he said.
“That is one of the things a lot of scholars and observers have been advocating. I think that is the way to go to unlock the full value of land in Zimbabwe.”
Bankers Association of Zimbabwe president Lawrence Nyazema also welcomed the announcement, imploring farmers to demonstrate that they have revenue-generating projects to access bank loans, rather than relying solely on land as collateral.
“Land is not as collateral that a farmer can walk into a bank requesting a loan because he or she has land. A farmer must have a project that generates money,” Nyazema said.
“It is very difficult for a farmer to just approach a bank and ask for money just because they have the land. If he or she fails to pay for the loan, the bank should be able remove them from the land.
“It is prudent for the farmers to come up with project proposals that they can develop to make sure that they are able to access the funds and repay the loans.”
Former Zimbabwe Farmers Union vice-president and agro-economist Berean Mukwende said most farmers were heavily indebted to banks and contractors and could lose the land to the banks and land barons, thereby reversing the gains of the land reform programme.
“Government should provide a corruption-free agricultural funding programme. Such funding should have a sound implementation system,” he said.
“The elephant in the room is corruption. Some will argue that the government programme will be corrupted because some officials are corrupt. What will stop this new land programme and policy from being corrupted?
“Government needs to stamp its authority against corruption. Right now, corruption is rife on sales and allocation of land in towns, communal areas, A1 and A2 farms by officials and leaders.”