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Farms to be nationalised
The Herald
June 08, 2004

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=32773&pubdate=2004-06-08

THE Government has stepped up efforts to acquire more land with the sole objective of nationalising all productive farmland, from crop fields to conservancies, in the country.

In an interview at the weekend, the Minister of Special Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet in charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Cde John Nkomo, said the State wants to abolish title deed holdings and replace them with 99-year-long leases.

Land leased out for wildlife and conservancies would be limited to 25-year leases, a period which has been shortened to allow many people to partake in the lucrative sector, said Cde Nkomo.

"Ultimately, all land shall be resettled as State property. It will now be the State which will enable the utilisation of the land for national prosperity," said Cde Nkomo, responding to inquiries by The Herald as to why farm acquisitions were continuing.

"We have never said it (land reform) was an event, but a process. We want a situation whereby this very important resource becomes a national asset. We don't believe that land should be used for speculative reasons. Title deeds are no longer issues we can waste our time on because the 99-year leases will act as good enough collateral."

On Friday last week the Government gazetted 259 farms, bringing to 918 the number of farms that have been listed for compulsory acquisition since January.

A further 245 farms measuring nearly 200 000 hectares have been compulsorily acquired since January.

To avoid the process of the Government giving notice of intent to acquire for owner or occupiers to oppose compulsory acquisition under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act (Chapter 20:10), Cde Nkomo advised all land owners to come forward for vetting in order to qualify for the 99-year lease agreement.

"This process is odious and unnecessary because in the end all land shall be State land and there will be no such thing called private land.

"The State should not be made to waste time and money on acquisitions. It is in their interest that they (owners) offer their land. One is free to sell infrastructure, but beneficiaries may not sell or lease the land to a third party."

Cde Nkomo said the 99-year arrangement should effectively put to rest the question of land tenure because once a farmer gets the lease he or she is free to develop the piece of land as best as they can.

Evaluators say under a lease on farming land, 10 to 15 percent of gross turnover divided by 12 becomes the rent taking into account variables such as water availability, climate and soil conditions.

If the land is acquired by the Government it would be given out on 99-year leases referred to as "in perpetuity".

"This practice is common throughout the rest of Africa and the only few countries not practising it include Zimbabwe and South Africa. Even in Zambia former commercial farmers from Zimbabwe who resettled there are operating under this system," said a senior valuer with one of the leading real estate firms.

"The only problem that it can present is that it is difficult for a person holding a lease agreement to make permanent improvements on the property," he added.

A leading banker also pointed out that since the land would be leased using the "in perpetuity" system, accessing funds from commercial banks would not present a problem.

"It depends on how the lease agreement between the farmer and Government is drawn up and whether banks would accept it as collateral," he said.

In its determined effort to equitably distribute land to all Zimbabweans as well as to effectively implement the country's agrarian reforms, Cde Nkomo said a National Land Board would soon be set up to oversee and administer allocations and proper utilisation of land.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cde Joseph Made, said his ministry was busy complementing efforts being made by the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement by making sure that farmers were adequately funded through the Government, banks and the Land Bank.

"We should be careful of some farmers who want to undermine land reform. We will be working round the clock to make sure that the new farmers in the A1 (small-scale) and A2 (commercial) models are given the necessary resources.

"Whether the banks come in or not, the State will not sit back," said Cde Made.

Following the landmark Supreme Court ruling last Thursday that the right to revoke or withdraw an order of acquisition is given to the acquiring authority, Cde Made said the new farmers should jealously hold on to their pieces of land by productively utilising all of it.

The Supreme Court ruling and Cde Nkomo's statement come at a time when the future of many new farmers on acquired properties hung in the balance following disputes between them and former commercial farmers.

Scores of new farmers across the country have been receiving letters that purportedly withdrew the land they were offered under the country's land reform programme initiated in 2000.

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