Land Commission knuckles down Norton councillors face arrest

THE Zimbabwe Land Commission has developed an implementation plan for a land audit, and has applied for US$16 million from Treasury to carry out the study and establish a centralised farm registry system linking the Lands and Resettlement Ministry to its provincial offices.

A Lands Information Management System (Lims) will store information on all State-owned land to help minimise ownership disputes.

Commission Chair Mrs Tendai Barere said, “We have developed instruments, systems and procedures for implementing a comprehensive land audit.

“We have also at the same time developed instruments that will lead to the development of a Land Information Management System, which is a key instrument in solving issues that include land disputes.”

She added: “A land audit would provide the Government with a Land Information Management System; it informs Government on who owns what piece of land and what are they doing on that piece of land in terms of land use and lay outs.

“This will promote good land governance and minimise disputes by having data that is interactive and complete.

“We hope that the Ministry of Finance will allocate resources; we needed about US$16 million for the process and we hope to use technology such as remote sensing and GPS.

“We have not yet started the audit but through inspections we are gleaning information that can easily be captured to develop Lims. We submitted a budget to Treasury over the last fiscal year and we shall do likewise for the next budget.”

Previous informal audits by authorities have exposed irregularities in allocation of farms with some children as young as 10-years-old getting farms and plots.

Also, multiple farm ownership is understood to be rife, while boundary and ownership disputes abound.

The land audit is also expected to flush out unproductive farmers, so that the resource can be either downsized or reallocated.

Around 300 000 families have benefited from land previously held by about 6 000 white commercial farmers.

◆ THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission has opened an investigation into allegations of fraudulent land deals in Norton Town Council involving 13 councillors.

Investigators at the anti-graft body told The Sunday Mail that the 13 faced imminent arrest following a three-month investigation into allegations of shady land deals.

“The net is closing in on Norton councillors. Arrests will be effected any time soon. We can’t divulge time-lines as this can scuttle investigations,” said an investigator who cannot be named for professional reasons.

Norton Town secretary Mr Kizito Muhomba had already written to Secretary for Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Engineer George Mlilo, on August 3, 2017 condemning councillors’ behaviour.

He said, “Councillors are making decisions that play to the gallery at the expense of sustainable service delivery like sub-economic tariffs, unnecessary employment, failure to enforce compliance. Councillors should listen to advice and make decisions for the good of Norton Town as a whole.”

Mr Muhomba also raised concerns a developer in the Johannesburg area who was issued a certificate of compliance in 2002 but had only partially serviced the land in 15 years.

“Pipes are in place for water but there is no water in taps because of its location as Norton gravitates water when distributing.

“Certificate of compliance was issued in 2002 in circumstances which the current administration cannot understand,” wrote Mr Muhomba.,

He said roads servicing in the Damofalls area was progressing, while work in Tankatara had been delayed by rains in the 2016-17 summer season.