From: bing@jazz.concert.net (Carter E. Bing)
Subject: Zimbabwean Land Reform (part 2)
Organization: Center for Communications, MCNC; RTP, NC
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 13:25:52 GMT

	Mangwende Spells Out Land Policy Requirments
                                                         (part 2)


	Present Land Distribution Pattern:

	In an effort to redress this inherited imbalance in the land 
 distribution pattern, the Government in 1980 embarked on the resettlement 
 programme. During the last ten years of implementing the programme, some
 progress has been made in the distribution of land to communal area people,
 war displaced people and refugees.

	So far, about 52,000 families have been resettled on 3.3 million
 hectares of land. Of the 3.3 million hectares, 2.7 million hectares was 
 purchased from large scale commmercial farmers at a total cost of about $81
 million dollars. The other 0.6 million was state land which Government used
 for resettlement.

  	As a result of the implementation of the land redistribution programme,
 the existing land distribution patter is now as follows:

	(i) 4,000 large scale commercial farmers	11.2 million ha
	(ii) about 1 million communal area families	16.3 million ha
   	(iii) about 10,000 small scale commercial farmers 1.2 million ha
 	(iv) about 52, 000 resettlement families	3.3 million ha
	(v) state farming sector			0.5 million ha

	According to the original plan, 162,000 families should have been
 resettled on nine million hectares by now. However, Government has only
 managed to resettle a third of this target. This is mainly because of 
 various constraints which Government has been facing in its execution of the
 programme. Some of these constraints include:

	(i)	Limitations imposed by the Lancaster House Constitution 
		which required that land owners be compensated in foreign 
 		currency for land appropriated by Government.

	(ii)	The constraints imposed by the Land Acquisition Act of 1985
		which made it difficult for Government to designate land 
		needed for the resettlement programme.

	(iii) 	The ever increasing price of land need for resettlement and,

	(iv)	Limited availability of financial resources.

	
	
	
	Future Land Distribution System as Contained in the National Land
	Policy:

	Given the present land distribution system and the constraints that we
 have encountered so far in implementing the resettlement Programme, Government
 has now decided on the principles of the National Land policy in Zimbabwe. The  National Land Policy Document has been distributed to the leadership of the 
 farming community. What is now left is working out the implementation 
 modalities of that policy. The farming community has been invited to 
 participate in the formulation of the implementation details. It is now in
 that light that the document on "Proposals For Land Reorm For Zimabwe, 1991"
 that has been presented to you by the Vice President of the CFU, Mr Anthony
 Swire - Thompson should be viewed.

	What should be clear to everybody is that the objectives of the National Land Policy have already been set by Government. What is subject to debate are  the strategies and mechanics of implementing those objectives. The magnitude
 of the resettlement programme that is contained in the National Land Policy
 is immutable datum. What is useful now is to debate the issue of the best 
 method that Government should employ to identify the five million hectares that is required for the resettlement programme.

	Turning now to what has been agreed by Government as far as future land distribution is concerned, the position is as follows: -

	(i)	Five million hectares of land will be purchased from the large
		scale commercial area to make the land allocated for the 
 		resettlement programme to about 8.3 million hectares.

	(ii)	Five million hectares should remain under the large scale
		commercial farming sector for the production of strategic
		crops like tobacco, wheat, horticulture, ect.

	(iii)	The small scale commercial area will remain with 1.2 million
		hectares.

	(iv)	The communal area farmers will remain with 16.3 hectares.

	(v) 	Additional land will also be purchased from the commercial 
		farmers to increase the land under state land to about
		2.4 million. 

	A number of measures need to be instituted to speed the resettlement
 programme. These include amendment of the land Acquisition Act of 1985
 and revision of the Resettlement Policies and Procedures Document and other 
 matters. 


	Amendment of the Lancaster House Constitution:

	As is enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill No. 11
 of 1990, which was passed by parliament on Wednesday, December 12, 1990,
 Government has decided to amend section 16 of the Lancaster House Constitution
 in order to limit the degree of protection afforded by that section against   
 acquisition for resettlement purposes. The Government's programme of land 
 redistribution has been hampered by the provisions of that section in several   way that now need rectifying.

	I am aware that various interpretation have been given to these legal   amendment of Section 16 of the Lancaster House Constitution relating to land
issues. Some people have tended to misinform the public about the intentions
 of Government thereby causing confusion and despondency in the farming 
 community. The big mistake that many people are making is to thin that the 
 Lancaster House Constitution has expired. That is not correct. The Lancaster
 House Constitution stipulated the modalities of amending the entrenched 
 clauses after a certain period has expired. What we have just done is to 
 follow the provisions of that constitution and amend the entrenched clauses
 constitutionally.

	The reason for amending that constitution arises from the wishes of the
 people for an equitable land distribution system. The net effect ot these 
 ammendments is to enable Government to implement the resettlement programme
 smoothly and effectively in the interest of the nation as a whole.

	It is important for the farming community to appreciate the fact that
 the Land Acquisition Act of 1985 has not been amended. It is the Land 
 Acquisition Bill which will spell out the details of how Government will 
 proceed to acquire land for the resettlement programme. I have invited the
 farming community to come forward with proposals which will be considered
 in the formulation of that Bill.

	It is therefore unfair in my view for people to keep on criticising 
 the method of price determination, land designation, absentee landlords,
 reasonable period and so on before the Land Acquisition Bill which defines 
 the modalities of those policies has been drawn up. Turning now to the 
 issue of the amendments, of the constitution, these are summarised in the 
 CFU Paper on page six. Similarly, the principles of the National Land
 Policy are also summarised on page five of the same paper. I will go through    some of them here in order to shed light on the meaning of the policy measure.

	Land Prices:
			

	Section 16 of the Lancaster House Constitution provided that 
 compensation for acquisition of land for resettlement must be "adequate",
 that is, the price to be paid has to be based on the market value of the 
 aquired property. The amendment that has been made provides that the 
 to be paid in the acquisition of the land for resettlement must be a 
 "fair price".

	Land prices in this country have been sky rocketing disproportionaly
 in relation to the prices of other agricultural resources. The present upward
 trend in land prices in our view no longer reflects the productive potential
 of land. Our assessment of the situation is that although it is tru that the
 high prices of land are, in a way, a reflection of the market forces of 
 demand and supply, the spiral is also exacerbated by those people who own
 land for speculative purposes. These land speculators demand exorbitant prices
 for the sake of making a fortune. They are not interested in investment in
 agriculture for productive purposes. These are the people who will be     
 affected by the masures to control land prices rather than the genuine 
 farmer who sells a farm in order to buy another one.

	
	Government will also continue to follow the existing land acquisition
 procedures of negotiating with farmers using the professional land valuation
 officers from the valuations branch of the Ministry of Public Construction
 an National Housing. The valuations officers take into account the average 
 prices per hectare in each agroacological region plus the value of 
 permanent improvements. Permanent improvements in this case include 
 irrigation infrastructure, dams, causeways, fencing, dipping facilities,
 workers' houses, schools and other items.


			end part 2

	

		

 

--
 "The oak sleeps in the acorn, the gaint sequoia sleeps in it`s tiny seed,
  the bird waits in the egg and God waits for his unfolding in man."
       Funkadelic                       bing@concert.net 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african