Land issue dominates Sadc PF debate
THE land reform wave that Zimbabwe spearheaded at the turn of the millennium has now hit Sadc, with the regional bloc’s parliament calling for legislative framework that promotes ownership of the resource.
Harare embarked on the land redistribution programme aimed at correcting imbalances in land distribution.
The emotive subject spilled into the Sadc Parliamentary Forum (Sadc PF) during its 43rd Plenary Assembly held in Luanda, Angola, recently where legislators from member countries said it was critical to engage the Sadc Secretariat to determine progress on land ownership, particularly women’s access to the resource.
During debate of the motion, South African MP Mrs Rosalia Morotua supported by colleague, Ms Siphosezwe Masango, called on Sadc legislators to debate the gendered dimension of land ownership and agricultural industrialisation in their respective countries.
Zimbabwe has since promulgated the Land Acquisition Act which empowers Government to compulsorily acquire land for agricultural purposes without compensation except for developments that would have been made.
In her debate, according to reports, Mrs Morotua implored Sadc PF to engage the Sadc Secretariat to determine progress towards advancing women’s access to land in the agricultural sector in keeping with the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development.
“The limited sex disaggregated data for land ownership in the Sadc region shows that men own most of the region’s land,” he said.
Botswana MP Duma Boko noted that Zimbabwe had tackled the issue head-on and South Africa was to follow suit.
He called for legislation to promote equitable access to land.
“Land is an inelastic resource,” he said.
“If someone holds tracts and tracts of land, rendering such land available only to himself and his family, is there a way we can free up some of that land?”
He warned that the writing was on the wall and enjoined his fellow lawmakers to wake up and smell the coffee.
“This is the question that bedevils South Africa, it bedevilled Zimbabwe with all the difficulty that it brought, and it now seems to bedevil the womenfolk,” Boko said.
In supporting the motion, Tanzanian MP Esther Masi bemoaned the failure by women to own land despite them being the major producer of food.
Malawi MP Patricia Kainga said the SADC Gender Protocol barometer of 2017 attributes the poor access to land by women to stringent trade facilities that most women are unable to qualify for and customary practices that prevent women from inheriting land.
“This region has a task to protect our women in land ownership and credit facilities,” she said.
Zambian lawmaker Professor Kandu Luo said many rural women were suffering due to lack of access to land. She called for mechanisation of agriculture to ease the burden on women who work on the land.
“The whole issue of tilling the land with hoes is really something that we should be looking at and mechanisation of agriculture activities is extremely important,” Luo said.
An MP from Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, said Sadc member states could learn something from his country about the land issue.
“As a Parliament and as a people, we have identified this issue and we have passed the necessary laws to do away with discrimination.
“Today, women and men in the Seychelles have equal access to land. Women can inherit land and there are no issues,” he said.
He encouraged national parliaments to resolve the land question at national level.
Zambian MP Elizabeth Phiri urged Sadc member states to protect the rights of mainly disadvantaged women and girls.
She said many widows were getting a raw deal.
“When a man dies, relatives of this man come and get everything from the woman. Other tribes think giving birth to a girl-child is a curse; they would rather have boys through out,” Phiri said.