Zanu-PF in a countrywide tour to clarify land compensation agreement

The ruling Zanu-PF party has embarked on a countrywide tour to clarify the correct position regarding the land issue.

Following the signing of the Global Compensation Agreement on the 29th of July, there has been a deliberate misinterpretation by the country's detractors saying the deal is meant to reverse the land reform programme.

The government has since clarified the correct position, with the ruling ZANU-PF also playing its part with a nationwide tour meant to ensure the message cascades to the grassroots.

In his address in Harare this Sunday, Politburo member Dr Joram Gumbo explained the categories entitled to compensation.

"Our party members are out in all the country's provinces where they are ironing all the issues which are being misinterpreted. There are categories of people who should benefit.

"The former farmers who fall in this category can apply to the Ministry of Lands and if the situation does not allow can be issued somewhere and the compensation is for improvements made.

"Section 295 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which was adopted in 2013 provides only for two categories that will receive compensation for both the land and compensation. 1. Indigenous Black African Zimbabweans whose land was acquired by the state. 2. Any person whose Agricultural land was protected by Bilateral investment Protection and Protection and Promotion Agreements. For the avoidance of doubt, these categories are only entitled to benefits."

Dr Gumbo also said it is mischievous for the country's detractors to claim that the new dispensation is reversing the land reform programme.

Also present was Mashonaland Central Minister of State, Monica Mavhunga who explained how devolution funds are cushioning marginalised communities.

"We want to take this opportunity to highlight that the government has already started disbursing devolution funds that are helping in the construction of schools and roads."

In Bulawayo the party' Secretary for Legal Affairs, Paul Mangwana explained the land issue and the compensation deed agreement signed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

"The compensation deed by the president is not a reversal of the land reform but it puts to closure the land issue in that all the outstanding issues are being attended to and this will then allow the country to focus on other issues because this is a constitutional obligation which has been affecting the inflow of investments as investors were fearing that government does not honour its commitments. Now investment is expected to flow because the government stands by its laws."

In Masvingo, ZANU-PF Politburo member July Moyo explained to the party leadership the tenets of the land compensation deed, assuring them that there is no going back on land reform.

"Our agrarian revolution is unstoppable. Our economy that is based on agriculture is now unstoppable."

A delegation from the ZANU-PF politburo graced the Midlands Provincial Coordinating Committee meeting this Saturday where ZANU-PF Secretary for Science and Technology Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa spoke on the land reform programme saying it is irreversible as it forms the basis of the liberation struggle.

"We have seen our detractors on various social media platforms trying to sell us a dummy that the new dispensation is up trying to reverse the land reform programme. Let me point out that this is by far a figment of the imagination of our detractors. The land reform programme is here to stay and I am sure that our responsible ministers have since issued statements to that effect."

The move by the ruling party seeks to clarify the correct position regarding the land issue after claims that the second republic was reversing the land reform programme by giving land back to former white farmers.