In response to the most active lobbying by civil society seen so far in the new multi-party parliament, the AR made three key changes to the draft law submitted by the government. The last two changes reversed revisions which the Council of Ministers had made in the bill last year before submitting it to parliament. Both involved compromises between government and parliament which will require further new legislation next year. Conceicao Quadros, technical director of the Land Commission, said the law would be translated into local languages to help make it more accessible to local people. She also stressed the importance of non-government organisations in making peasants aware of their rights to remain on land they occupy.
Local communities can have use and occupancy rights and can be issued collective titles.
The land law was subject to more than a week of intensive debate in parliament. The people have a right to own the land they inherited from the ancestors. The constitution and the new land law prevent private ownership and the mortgaging of land. These are permanent for individuals and communities already in occupation, and for home-owners. The position taken by Frelimo is that privatising land would lead to landlessness, as happened elsewhere.