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The
Land Agenda 16th April 2002 Any ideas that might be held
by others in Africa that Mugabe and Zanu PF are sincere in their commitment to
the Abuja accord on land or the UN proposals for land reform or even the 1998
agreement reached with the stakeholders on the subject, must surely be swept
away by this extraordinary statement from the Minister responsible.
It should be noted that 3 days ago Zanu PF agreed in a meeting chaired by
Nigeria and South Africa that they would negotiate with the MDC an approach to
the land issue which was in keeping with the commitments made in Abuja by the
government some three months ago. This
new statement clearly shows that Zanu has no intention of doing so and are now
fully committed to the wholesale nationalization of all commercial land in
Zimbabwe that is being used for agricultural purposes. In this statement there is no
commitment to compensation for the assets being seized in this manner, no
reference to the legal process which is clearly set out in legislation passed by
this government to manage the land reform process. It brushes aside the decisions of the Supreme Court on this
issue and completely ignores all historical legal agreements including the
protection of investment agreements with at least 20 overseas countries, the
World Bank and UN Conventions on the subject. The is no commitment to the
rights of the large agribusiness sector covering tens of thousands of hectares
of timber, tea and coffee plantations or the massive sugar and citrus
plantations in the south of the country. The sums involved are simply
immense and the State has no possibility of either providing for or ever paying
for the assets being looted by this process. This is not land reform, this
is theft of private property on a scale not seen in Africa for many years.
There is no reason why this process should not be extended to the
commercial and tourism assets in the country or the mining assets - in fact the
justification given in the last paragraph opens the way to just such an
exercise. It must also be noted that
the manner in which this high handed action is being carried out is symptomatic
of a totalitarian dictatorship which has little regard for the rule of law or
the rights of others. This action
not only destroys a vibrant commercial farming industry that has served Zimbabwe
well for a 100 years but also condemns the country to hunger, joblessness,
poverty and degradation on a huge scale. Its
implications will have far reaching effects on the whole of southern Africa and
beyond. ********** PRESS STATEMENT BY MINISTER
OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT, HON J.M. MADE, ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAND REFORM PROGRAMME
(MODEL A1 AND A2) INTRODUCTION: The Land Reform Programme has
seen many challenges to government and in particular the implementation of the
Fast Track Resettlement Programme launched 18 months ago. Some of the challenges that
government has faced in implementing the land reform programme have been: - * Resistance by the
Commercial Farmers * Delays in the
Administrative Courts * Bureaucratic delays at the
ministry level. Officers wanting to
formulate policy instead of implementing policy. * Lack of adequate resources
(financial, human and physical) In order to address most of
the challenges that have been faced, government through my ministry has taken a
decision that we fully address the issues and give a public statement to
indicate which measures we are going to take and the direction in order to
conclude the Land Reform Programme. The major objective being to
further enhance social, political and economic stability. EFFECT OF SERVING PRELIMINARY
NOTICE. (SECTION 5) Where government has
expressed an interest to compulsorily acquire a farm by gazetting the farm and
serving a preliminary notice (commonly referred to as a Section 5).
The landowner shall not: - * Sub-divide or apply for a
permit to subdivide such land * Construct permanent
improvements on the farm * Dispose of such land * Demolish, damage, alter or
in any other manner impair the farm, or * Release water from the dams; destroy pastures or carry out activities that sabotage the smooth implementation of the land reform Programme. EFFECT OF SERVING ACQUISITION
ORDER (SECTION 8) The serving of an acquisition
order (commonly referred to as section 8) on a gazetted farm, has the effect of
immediately transferring the ownership, of that farm to the acquiring authority,
represented by the Ministry of Lands, Agricultural and Rural Resettlement.
The acquiring authority will immediately survey, demarcate and allocate
the land concerned without undue interference to the living quarters of the
owner or occupier of that land. It is a criminal offence for
the landowner to interfere with the exercise of survey, demarcation and settler
emplacement. The landowner should
now confine himself or herself to the homestead, and must vacate the farm within
90 days of being served the
acquisition order. The acquisition
order now also serves as an eviction notice.
No requests for extensions of the notice period shall be entertained.
Government expects the new settlers to quickly move into their newly
acquired land and become the landowner and newly settled farmer.
White commercial farmers must stand warned that government will not
tolerate interference of the operations of the newly settled farmer. IMPLEMENTATION OF MAXIMUM FARM SIZE REGULATIONS Government has now started to
implement the Maximum Farm Size regulations. The Maximum Farm Size
regulations will be implemented as follows: - * The affected farms are
going to be gazetted and compulsorily acquired. * the farms are going to be
subdivided to conform with the required maximum farm size, * the current landowners that
wish to continue farming in Zimbabwe will have to indicate their intention to do
so and government will consider the requests. In December 2000 government
gazetted Statutory Instrument Number 288 of 2000 in which maximum farm sizes
were prescribed for all the agro- ecological regions of our country.
The maximum farm sizes were broken down as follows: - Agro-Ecological
Zone Maximum Farm Size (ha) l 250 lla 350 llb 400 lll 500
lV 1 500 V 2 000 All farms that have not been gazetted for compulsory
acquisition are going to be sub-divided to comply with the maximum farm sizes. The following
farms/properties will be exempted from the maximum farm size regulation: - * State land * Properties belonging to
church or mission organisations * Properties belonging to
educational institutions * Properties owned by black
indigenous farmers * Properties where Model A1
and A2 allocations have already taken place My ministry is still working out the
appropriate maximum farm sizes for conservancies and plantations in consultation
with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AND PROVISION OF RESOURCES Government has also
identified under the Land Reform Programme, a second challenge, that is, the
need to support fully the resettled families in order to optimise agricultural
production so that economic growth, food security and employment creation are
assured. In all government-supported
programmes under the Land Reform Programme, the production of starch based crops
like maize, sorghum, millet and potatoes is going to be emphasised and
production targets are going to be set. Government is also going to
put a price structure that will encourage farmers to produce these crops.
As people are moved from marginal land to land with better pastures,
livestock is also going to take centre stage in our programme so that the
country can meet domestic consumption and export needs. Government is also going to
beef up resources and support services at provincial and district levels to meet
the demands of the land and agrarian reform. The required personnel are going to be recruited so that the
various activities under the land and agrarian reform can be carried out swiftly
and efficiently. We have to create a normal
life in the resettled areas by designating areas for rural service centres in
order to provide schools, clinics, infrastructure for grain storage, etc. SABOTAGE AND DESTRUCTION OF INFRASTRUCTURE ON FARMS We have received reports of
commercial farmers who are destroying infrastructure and removing or vandalising
irrigation and other farm infrastructure. The
aim is to frustrate government efforts to grow a winter crop and preparations
for the summer crop and other farm operations.
The nature of other acts of sabotage, include among others the spraying
sugarcane plantations with harmful chemicals and infecting cattle with diseases.
These criminal acts are going to be investigated and the culprits will be
brought to book. MINISTRY CIVIL SERVANTS The Ministry's civil servants
have done a hard job so far. However a serious problem has
arisen of different levels not working at the same pace.
A number of critical officers seem to be putting brakes on the
implementation of the Land Reform Programme.
Numerous reports are coming from the ground alleging that civil servants
in my ministry at certain levels are working hand in hand with commercial
farmers to derail and delay the gains so far achieved on the future of the
Programme. As Minister I will not
hesitate to deal with officials that derail and or delay the land reform
programme. NATIONAL LAND TASK FORCE The National Land Task Force
has been re-activated. The Task Force will have very clear terms of reference to
monitor and recommend action to be taken by my Ministry in order to have the
Land Reform Programme effectively concluded.
In addition to the Task Force, various Ministers will be requested to
assist in various provinces to see that our targets are met. Ministers Mujuru, Chombo, and
Made will soon meet the Task Force to map out its action. CONCLUSION Our Land Reform and Agrarian
Reform are well crafted as they are based on studies that have indicated that we
have land that is under- utilised or virgin.
Our Land Reform Programme is going to be carried out in an
environmentally sustainable manner. I would like to take this
opportunity to tell the nation that there is no going back on the land reform
programme. Overally by implementing land
re-distribution and de-racialisng the agricultural large scale sector, Zimbabwe
will ensure that agricultural production is never again in the hands of a few
who under-utilise or hold to ransom the means of food security, employment
creation, and economic growth. I thank you. ********** The last paragraph shown
above is very important in that it gives the justification for this draconian
statement as far as Zanu PF is concerned. It should be noted that land
owned by black large scale farmers - most of whom are Zanu PF functioaries or
military officers who have benefitted from the process so far, are specifically
exempted from the land aquisition process and the regulations on maximum sized
properties. The object is therefore
racial as well as economic. The
great majority of the properties siezed as a result of this declaration are
farmed very intensively and have been the cornerstone of food security for the
past 20 years of independence. With this single stroke of a
pen - the government has thrown up to 500 000 people out of work, driven their
families (2,5 million people) into penury and destroyed any chance of a
resumption of economic growth after three years of decline in the GDP.
The decision to pay farmers for the past years tobacco crop at the
official exchange rate means also that as a final act, the state will take this
asset from the growers at a quarter or less of its real value.
Plans for a winter crop of wheat and maize are a pipe dream and another
form of economic madness. This is the sort of thing
that is going to sabotage the New Economic Programme for African Development
(NEPAD). If the Mugabe regime is
allowed to carry out this so called "reform process" by African
leaders, then they will be tacitly endorsing actions of this nature everywhere
in Africa and investors everywhere will take note. It must be noted that the tiny white community that is
affected by these measures are all highly qualified and experienced and possess
the resources to relocate to other countries where their rights as investors, as
citizens, as human beings will be respected. Those left behind are not so
fortunate and will pay the price for these gross violations of basic rights.
Rights which everywhere else in the world, are regarded as being
inviolate. |