Zimbabwe set 1,000 hectare farm limit

THE government will take land from those with multiple farms, while those with huge farms exceeding 1,000 hectares will have them subdivided and parcelled out to landless families, Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

Responding to questions raised by members of the public during a Constitution outreach programme in Mutare yesterday, Acting President Mnangagwa, who is also the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, said an on-going land audit would expose those who had multiple farms.

"We know that some of us senior government officials got more than one farm, while some parcelled farms to family members, relatives and girlfriends at the expense of other families," he said. "We're going to look at that and give those pieces of land to other people.

"Anyone who is found with a farm that is bigger than the required size in a region that farm falls in will have his or her portion of land downsized. So, I urge those with big farms not to invest beyond their farm sizes because those investments will be given to the person who is allocated the remaining part of the farm.

"We need to empower our youths and they'll not be left out in the process of fine tuning the land reform programme."

Mnangagwa took the people through the new Constitution, saying it was vital for everyone to know the contents of the supreme law of the land.

"The Constitution of a nation is a mirror of national soul and aspirations of a people," he said. "It's our identity, who we're, where we're coming from and where we're going.

"The Constitution must be taught in schools because that is written so, and if we aren't doing that we're in breach of the supreme law of the land. We should know our rights."

Through knowledge of the Constitution, he said, Zimbabweans will value their dignity and be proud of themselves.