Land Audit Unearth Massive Irregularities
The Zimbabwe Land Commission (ZLC) has unearthed a number of irregularities in land allocation under the Land Reform Programme.
ZLC recently completed the first phase of the land audit which showed that, among other things, there were multiple allocations of the same piece of land.
ZLC chair Tendai Bare told Sunday News that some of the irregularities could be rectified if the Ministry of Lands is made the sole issuing authority of Tenure documents. She said:
Basically, it was established that the carrying capacity of subdivisions, particularly of A1 farmers, far exceeded the planned target due to the fact that there were multiple allocations by authorities who were not following laid-down procedures.
The level of investment was not to the expectation due to the fact that farmers had used all their initial savings and could not access new credit from financial institutions, and this accounts for low production levels and very little mechanisation.
On issues of security of tenure, the tenure documents given to A1 farmers are shambolic because they came from different allocating authorities.
This made it impossible to verify the legal status of genuine farm beneficiaries.
The government launched the National Agricultural Land Audit last year and the first phase was conducted in 10 districts across the country’s 10 provinces between October and November last year.
The audit is meant rationalise ownership and farm sizes. However, only 6 per cent of the targeted land has been covered so far.
