Musa Makina
THE government has made a stunning revelation that all of the country’s farms are occupied as the demand for land continues to rise.
This also comes as land grabbing by fellow blacks from blacks continue to take place with the latest involving a farm owned by Siphosami Malunga, director of Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), businessman Charles Moyo and scientist at National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Zephania Dlamini. The farm is located in Nyamandlovu, Matabeleland North,
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka said owing to the high demand for land the ministry is now revisiting abandoned, derelict and under-utilized farms for re-distribution to the landless blacks who want land.
He revealed that an estimated 250 000 people are currently on the waiting list for farming land.
“There is no guarantee that if someone applies for land today, they will then think that two months, a year or ten years down the line they can get something. We have people on the waiting list that have been there in some areas since 2002 because we have 250 000 applications for land where 99% of the land has been allocated but has only been given to 20 000,” Masuka said.
He was responding to a question by opposition legislator Peter Moyo who wanted to find out how many people on the waiting list have been given offer letters.
With all farms occupied, Masuka said multiple farm owners are at high risk of losing the farms for re-distribution.
“You will see that we are actually taking from those whom we once gave these farms. We are very happy that people have seen that it is important and fruitful and beneficial to engage in farming. We are now looking at downsizing farms and redistributing to others.
“We have formulated from a policy perspective, four categories of how we are going to guide the Provincial Lands Committees and the District Lands Committees to identify such land. The first category is that of multiple farm owners and that we are identifying.
“The second category we indicated is for abandoned farms. The third category is underutilized farms and the fourth is that of derelict farms,” he said.
The new development reveals how Zimbabwe’s 2000 chaotic land reform exercise remains a headache more than 20 years after it was implemented.
