Stop Domboshawa land barons in their tracks

THE illegal “sale” of communal land in Domboshawa as urban stands is neither unique to that area nor can it be tolerated for any reason whatsoever, with chiefs and local authorities needing to use their laid down powers to both stop and reverse what is happening.

The land barons who moved into other State land around Harare in the last two decades and grabbed land then sold off stands did a great deal of damage.

Yet this land that they stole and sold was designated for urban development, although the plans included wetlands, public recreation areas, and land for schools and health services that were not for housing.

In many cases the basic layout plans existed, so people knew roughly where the roads would go and so while there was no proper survey, it is possible for most of those who took possession of stands from the land barons to get title deeds during the present regularisation process.

But when we come to communal lands the damage is many times worse and the creation of large rural slums is a serious probability unless rapid and effective action is taken now.

The barons are not selling off land that can even in theory be regularised, since there are zero plans, zero services. We are not talking about something missing, but about something that cannot easily be added. Think Epworth.

Communal land, as its name suggests, is not private land or potentially private land. While the land in law is owned by the State, in these cases the State is simply the trustee for land that for all practical purposes is owned and run by an entire designated community, and by entire we mean entire, not just a few individuals.

Land is allocated to individuals and households, who must belong to the community in question, by the traditional leadership and in particular by the chief of the area.

A lot of conventions have arisen over the decades, but basically the main criterion of allocation is one of need by a member of the community and the conventions ensure that the allocation remains so long as the allocated person is using what was allocated properly.

Other conventions ensure that when someone develops their small farm, building a decent house and putting in improvements, then the spouse or a child of that person can be allocated the same land on the death of the improver.

Even when no one from the family wants to stay in the area after the death of a farmer, the new person taking over the allocation is usually expected to buy the improvements, although obviously not the land.

Land in a communal area can be allocated for commercial and industrial centres, for schools, churches and hospitals, for dams, for roads, for irrigation canals and pipelines and for a host of other needs.

But the rule in this case is that these allocations must be for services of benefit to the whole community, and the normal rules of compensation for improvements of those who must move are followed and those who have to move receive equivalent land in the area.

In both the ordinary allocations and sorting out the needs for reallocations and movement, the chief or headman or village head is not some arbitrary land owner, but in theory and practice can best be described as the voice of the community, the whole community.

What we are seeing in Domboshawa and other areas is something quite different. Land barons are reportedly threatening some holders of land, and waving bunches of banknotes in front of others, to surrender their land holding or part of it so the baron can subdivide and sell stands to people from Harare who want to build a house to live in or to rent.

We are talking about 600 square metre stands, and without sewers, water supplies and the other required services these are far too small to be healthy or even inhabitable.

Even if every urban standholder dug a well, if that is possible, or drilled a borehole, the water table would soon fall and the wells and boreholes would dry up.

Septic tanks not only need a reasonable sized plot, 4 000 square metres is laid down by law although half the size is possible on approved soils, but need enough water for flush toilets. This is not possible on what is happening.

The urban housing, or even clusters of urban housing if the baron has a large enough plot for say a dozen houses, are not planned, and because of the scattered nature of the development cannot be serviced in future except by the sort of people who could afford to live in Borrowdale, where upmarket stands are available.

Regularisation and issuing of title deeds would provide further legal complications, since the land is being sold fraudulently by the barons to people who do not belong to the Domboshawa community and have no entitlement to even an allocation, let alone to excising a chunk of a community asset.

Goromonzi Rural District Council needs to fight back, along with the chief of the area who will probably have to reign in some of the subordinate traditional leaders who are abusing their position, if reports are accurate.

The council has a good reputation on development within its area, and is not anti-urban.

It oversaw the growth of Ruwa on good planning lines, and when what is now a large town was granted its semi-independence as a local government board elected by the residents it was one of the few shining lights in the Harare metropolitan area where planning rules and regulations were followed.

Even now Goromonzi and Ruwa are co-operating on how Caledonia Farm, slated for urban development but with the land barons moving in before the services were put in place, can be sorted out and then, presumably, become part of Ruwa.

Domboshawa itself as the town on the southern border of the communal land is a growing business centre with a reasonable level of planning by the council, benefiting people from the community with jobs and the like.

In theory communal land near a city can be redesignated for urban land. Chitungwiza is an example although in that case the Smith regime wanted land across the Manyame River and Seke Communal Lands was the only site.

In most other cases there is general land near the city that can be used instead, in most cases former white-owned farms that are now State land, and the long process of redesignating communal land need not be attempted.

The Domboshawa land grabs are being done purely for greed, and can be stopped and now must be stopped.