Harare worries about new land grabs
Zimbabwe’s government is fretting over a new wave of farm invasions that is threatening to hit the country as youths aligned to the ruling Zanu-PF party take aim at underused farms. Lands, agriculture, fisheries, water and rural resettlement minister Anxious Masuka says the government is worried about the new threat of land seizures.
Zimbabwe’s government is fretting over a new wave of farm invasions that is threatening to hit the country as youths aligned to the ruling Zanu-PF party take aim at underused farms.
In a statement emailed to Business Day last week, lands, agriculture, fisheries, water & rural resettlement minister Anxious Masuka said the government is worried about the new threat of land seizures.
The concerns over farm invasions hark back to the violent land grabs that saw mostly white farmers being displaced two decades ago.
Thousands of young people who were too young to benefit from the land reform under former president Robert Mugabe are demanding land from Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which has promised to redistribute land from multiple farm owners as well as land that is not used for agriculture.
Mnangagwa recently implored all Zimbabweans to follow due process in acquiring land, while also warning invaders that violent land grabs will not be allowed.
Masuka said: “While every Zimbabwean has a right to land, due process must be followed in accessing agricultural land at all times. It is the responsibility of the state, not individuals, to alienate agricultural land. In this regard, recent reports of illegal land invasions are not only unfortunate but raise great concern as they negate the revolutionary gains made to date.”
He urged Zimbabweans to heed the president’s call.
“As we follow the president’s directive to weed out invaders, law-abiding Zimbabweans are urged to assist government in exposing land invaders, including their handlers and masters. Land invaders you have been warned,” Masuka said.
He said there is soaring demand for land, with more than 250,000 people on the waiting list for farms. “Unfortunately, not every Zimbabwean wishing to get land will be allocated land.”
THE LAND AUDIT HAS EXPOSED HUGE IRREGULARITIES WITH SOME CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS 10 YEARS OLD OWNING LAND
The government is completing a land audit that seeks to take over unproductive farms, especially those above 500ha — as stipulated by a new law gazetted in 2020.
Political commentator Vivid Gwede said a new phase of land redistribution is long overdue because many suitable farmers were not allocated land.
“There is hoarding of farms in breach of the one man, one farm policy that government seeks to promote. The ongoing land audit should be transparent and expose all irregularities in the current ownership of the farms.
“Results of the ongoing land audit should lead to fair redistribution of land among all Zimbabweans,” he said.
food production has plummeted since the land redistribution programme, forcing the country to import basic foodstuffs for the better part of the past 20 years.
Zimbabwe’s land reform still divides public opinion because up to 300,000 black families benefited while many lost their jobs in the process, and the number of white farmers has dropped to a few hundred from about 4,500 in 2000.
The land audit has exposed huge irregularities in the allocation of farms, with some children as young as 10 years old owning land, while political bigwigs own multiple farms.
Young Farmers Association of Zimbabwe president Petros Madzingo said the youth should be urgently allocated land. “As an organisation, we have applied for 500ha of land. If we are going to get the land after a 10-year period, we would have already passed our youth, so we need the land now so that we can produce for the nation.”