Zimbabwe's newly resettled farmers to pay for infrastructure

ALL resettled commercial (A2) farmers who were allocated farms with improved infrastructure will pay up to $90 000 to the Government for them to get bankable 99-year leases, parliamentarians heard yesterday.

Paying for the property will give the farm collateral value that will make it possible for them to borrow money from banks.

Those who paid for the leases during the Zimbabwean dollar era will be spared, save for paying their annual rentals for the land.

The new conditions are in the improved 99-year lease agreement that is being crafted by the Government in consultation with the Bankers' Association of Zimbabwe.

The money will be spread over 25 years and those who do not pay will not get the leases.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Water, Lands and Resettlement yesterday, Lands and Rural Resettlement Permanent Secretary, Mrs Sophia Tsvakwi, said so far only 127 farmers have been given 99-year leases out of 18 000 beneficiaries.

The committee is chaired by Chikomba Central legislator, Mr Moses Jiri (MDC-T).

Mrs Tsvakwi said 1 716 farms have so far been assessed by the National Land Board of which 1 307 were recommended for 99-year leases.

"The reason why only 127 farmers have been issued with the 99-year leases is because one has to pay for the infrastructure that is on the property," Mrs Tsvakwi said.

"The prices vary, it depends on what developments are on the property. Sometimes it can be $89 000, it can be $80 000 while for others can be $13 000. It depends on what improvements are on the property. If you go on virgin land, you won't have much to pay."

She said some of the money will be used to compensate white former farmers for the infrastructure development on the farms.

Mrs Tsvakwi said her ministry had produced a lot of leases that will only be given to the new farmers if they pay the money.

Director of Land Acquisition, Valuation and Estates Management, Mr Marius Dzinoreva, said the Attorney General's Office improved the 99-year leases to include paying for the infrastructure.

"The ministry will charge for improvements and when you pay, you are actually buying the property so there are issues of transferability of the property . . . so the 99-year lease will then enable the farmers to borrow from the banks.

"We are hoping that by mid-year, this amended document would have gone through Cabinet so that it becomes a new lease," Mr Dzinoreva said.

He said farmers were expected to pay part of the agreed amounts for the leases before they were given the documents, adding that those who paid for the leases during the Zimbabwean dollar era will be spared.

Mr Dzinoreva said the bankers were happy with the improved 99-year lease.

On the land audit, Mrs Tsvakwi said her ministry was ready to conduct it as soon as Treasury financed the project.

She said the land audit was not a brainchild of the inclusive Government because they conducted another one in 2006.

The objective of the audit, she said, was to check on production on the farms and to do away with multiple farm ownership though their computer software would detect it if one owned more than one farm.

Mrs Tsvakwi said it would not be proper for Government to reclaim farms from farmers who are not productive because they have not been financially supported by the State.

Director for Resettlements, Mr Elias Ziro, said most of the problems to do with perceived double offer letters for the same piece of land were caused by beneficiaries whose offer letters were withdrawn. "Sometimes when we give people land, they look at the piece of land and are not happy and they only come back when the land has been withdrawn and given to other beneficiaries.

"We have served withdrawal letters on given addresses but first beneficiaries will come back and tell us that they would not have seen the withdrawal letter. We only withdraw offers if nothing has been done on the land," Mr Ziro said.

Mrs Tsvakwi also said only those with offer letters were allowed to occupy land.

She said some of the perceived land invasions now were not invasions as such but were cases of beneficiaries moving onto the land that they would have been given but had been having problems moving in.

She said if anyone wanted to occupy land without offer letters they should be reported to the police.

Legislators called on the Government to come up with a clear agriculture policy that will address all the problems faced by farmers.

Goromonzi North MP and committee member, Paddy Zhanda (Zanu-PF), said there were a lot of things that needed to be addressed if agriculture in the country was to be viable.