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MDC calls for an urgent land audit
Movement for Democratic Change
January 23, 2013

The MDC has been vindicated on its calls for the government to carry out a proper land audit following a ruling by the High Court on Tuesday that the Ministry of Lands should have a clear, transparent and accountable land allocation policy.

In his judgment, Justice Bharat Patel slammed the Lands Ministry over its murkiness in land distribution as he reversed the Lands Ministry's 2005 decision to offer Denby Farm in Seke to a senior Zanu PF politician who already had another farm next to Denby Farm in 2001.

The MDC condemns the continued greed shown by the senior Zanu PF politicians in acquiring more than one farm and the MDC's position remains that there should be a comprehensive, transparent and non-partisan land audit to weed out multiple farm ownerships and identify underutilised land as stipulated by the law.

Zanu PF's land allocation process has been fraught with corruption and confusion as only last week, Grace Mugabe was reported to have taken over part of the lucrative Mazoe Estates in Mazowe leaving hundreds of workers without jobs. Grace Mugabe already owns several farms in Mazowe.

It is therefore important for the inclusive government, to carry out a land audit in line with the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in order to reassert agriculture on the pole position as the country's economic mainstay.

Article V of the GPA is very specific. It requires the inclusive government to undertake a land audit in order to clear up Zanu PF's disorder, created during the chaotic land reform exercise. For that reason, the MDC and the people of Zimbabwe are calling for an audit to revisit Zanu PF's land reform exercise with the aim of restoring to maximum productivity, all agricultural land.

By carrying out a proper land audit, Zimbabwe will be able to improve food security and increase the sector's employment contribution.

In its economic policy, Juice, the MDC's position is that when it forms the next government this year, it will carry out an independent land audit and restore Zimbabwe's status as the breadbasket of Southern Africa within the next three years.

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