News / National
Zimbabwe land audits to begin next year
08 Nov 2015 at 08:16hrs | Views
THE much-anticipated land audit is likely to kick off next year, amid indications that the Ministry of Lands and Rural Settlement has finished drafting the Land Bill which will lead to the establishment of the Land Commission.
Land and Rural Settlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora said his ministry was working around the clock to ensure that the Land Commission is in place by year end so that it will be allocated funds by Treasury. Government needs $35 million for the exercise. Mombeshora also revealed that the vetting of candidates for the commission was underway.
"The land audit as indicated in the Constitution should be carried out by the Land Commission. For the Land Commission, we have done the final draft but last week we were told that there is little grammar that needs to be looked at and legal people are looking at that to polish up the Bill. When we take the Bill to the Cabinet committee on legislation before presenting it to Cabinet and Parliament, it should be perfect and we are now doing the final corrections but the content and everything is now done.
"Our aim is to ensure that Land Commission is in place by the beginning of the year because we have already received curricula vitae which have been sent for vetting. We are doing things in parallel; while the Bill is going to be ready for Parliament the names should also be ready for appointment so that by the beginning of the year everything will be in place and there is budget for them. All what we are doing is preparing for them for the Land Commission as some cars and laptops are in place for the commission. We have also drafted a questionnaire which the commission is going to develop."
The land audit is expected to look into multiple farm ownership, sub-leasing and under-utilised land, a development that will see genuine farmers who failed to get land being allocated some pieces of land.
This paper recently established that a number of farms in the Matabeleland region had literally been abandoned by their owners, some are under-utilised while in some cases the farms are being leased to white farmers, a move that was condemned by President Mugabe.
Minister Mombeshora has also indicated that Government will repossess land by withdrawing offer letters from those proved to be sub-leasing their allocated land.
Land and Rural Settlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora said his ministry was working around the clock to ensure that the Land Commission is in place by year end so that it will be allocated funds by Treasury. Government needs $35 million for the exercise. Mombeshora also revealed that the vetting of candidates for the commission was underway.
"The land audit as indicated in the Constitution should be carried out by the Land Commission. For the Land Commission, we have done the final draft but last week we were told that there is little grammar that needs to be looked at and legal people are looking at that to polish up the Bill. When we take the Bill to the Cabinet committee on legislation before presenting it to Cabinet and Parliament, it should be perfect and we are now doing the final corrections but the content and everything is now done.
The land audit is expected to look into multiple farm ownership, sub-leasing and under-utilised land, a development that will see genuine farmers who failed to get land being allocated some pieces of land.
This paper recently established that a number of farms in the Matabeleland region had literally been abandoned by their owners, some are under-utilised while in some cases the farms are being leased to white farmers, a move that was condemned by President Mugabe.
Minister Mombeshora has also indicated that Government will repossess land by withdrawing offer letters from those proved to be sub-leasing their allocated land.
Source - sundaynews
