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This article participates on the following special index pages:
New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
Property
rights, the Zimbabwe draft Constitution and a Christian response
Ben
Freeth
September 30, 2012
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Titled land
and property rights have a long, fascinating and relevant history
for Zimbabwe today in the light of the dramatic economic collapse
that has taken place during the last decade and the cementing of
that collapse through laws in the new draft constitution.
The earliest
documented transfer of property rights to land in the history of
man was in Hebron in 1675 BCE - 3,678 years ago. It was then that
Abraham purchased the Cave of the Patriarchs, with a field and trees,
from Ephron the Hittite for four hundred shekels (about 6kgs) of
silver. The transaction is described in detail. [Genesis 23: 3 -
20].
Biblical
Principles relating to property rights:
1. The first
Biblical principle regarding property rights is the prohibition
against theft, enshrined in the 8th commandment in Exodus 20:15
"You shall not steal." The commandments: "You shall
not steal" and "You shall not covet" [Exodus 20:15,
17] are meaningless unless there are prior owners responsible to
God as faithful stewards of His property. These commandments were
written by God's finger in stone so that nobody could ever change
them. Irving E. Howard says, "The commandment 'Thou shalt not
steal' is the clearest declaration of the right to private property
in the Old Testament."
The leading
theologian, Reverend Rushdooney, goes further: "an attack on
private property ownership is also an attack on God because it despises
His law." God's law is holy and it is absolutely central to
who God is, why the Ark of the Covenant went even before the army
as the first thing into the Promised Land, why the temple was built,
why Israel became the super power of its day - while it remembered
the law - and why Jesus came to die for humanity in fulfillment
of the law. Writing laws that go against God's law has always resulted
in certain disaster.
2. The second
principle of property rights is that the world ultimately belongs
to God (not to the State), as exemplified by Psalm 24:1: "The
earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, the world and those who
dwell in it." The whole earth is mine" [Exodus 19:5].
"The world is mine and all it contains." [Psalm 50:12].
3. The third
principle of property rights is a corollary to the second: humans
are temporary tenants upon God's property, as King David said in
1 Chronicles 29:15: "For we are but sojourners before You,
and tenants, as all our fathers were."
The
Zimbabwe Draft Constitution and property rights:
Section 4.29
of the draft
constitution relates to land that has been acquired already, as
well as land to be acquired in the future. It allows land to be
taken without compensation, without the owners being allowed a hearing
in the court, and on a discriminatory basis.
"(2) Where
agricultural land is (Note: This is present tense) required for
a public purpose, including-
(a) settlement for agricultural or other purposes;
(b) land reorganisation, forestry, environmental conservation or
the utilisation of wildlife or other natural resources; or
(c) the relocation of persons dispossessed as a result of the utilisation
of land for a purpose referred to in subparagraph (a) or (b); the
land may be acquired (Note: future acquisitions obviously covered
here) by the State by notice published in the Gazette by the acquiring
authority and identifying the land, whereupon the land vests in
the
State with full title with effect from the date of publication of
the notice.
(3) Where agricultural land, or any right or interest in such land,
is (Note: present tense) compulsorily acquired for a purpose referred
to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subsection (2):
(a) no compensation is (Note: present tense) payable in respect
of its acquisition, except for improvements effected on it before
its acquisition;
(b) no person may apply to court for the determination of any question
relating to compensation, except for compensation for improvements
effected on the land before its acquisition, and no court may entertain
any such application; and
(c) the acquisition may not be challenged on the ground that it
was discriminatory in contravention of section 4.13.
Such draconian
clauses that allow theft to take place on a discriminatory basis
and without a hearing in court being allowed, need to be looked
at in the light of property rights throughout history and what the
Bible says in this regard.
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