Constitutional law expert Fadzayi Mahere has said the government cannot issue title deeds for farms that were seized and redistributed during the land reform programme without first amending the constitution, as doing so would be unlawful.
This follows the government’s recent appointment of the Land Tenure Implementation Committee, chaired by Kudakwashe Tagwirei, to convert existing land ownership documents (such as 99-year leases) into bankable, registrable, and transferable titles.
The goal is to enable farmers to use their land as collateral to secure loans from financial institutions.
However, Mahere argued that, at present, no law empowers the state to issue title deeds for agricultural land. She expressed her views on social media:
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At law, there are only 3 methods by which one can hold, use or occupy state land. These are by way of an offer letter, a permit or a lease.
There is no law that empowers the state to give out title deeds for agricultural land. The Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act says this expressly.
Ownership in state land vests in the State by operation of law in terms of section 72(4) of the Constitution.
All the previously held title deeds for this land were endorsed accordingly. Check the Deeds Office.
How would you purport to undo all that and start issuing new title deeds? There’s no legal mechanism by which such conveyancing can validly take place.
In short, it would be unconstitutional to alienate the land in the manner suggested. You would have to repeal section 72 of the Constitution in its entirety and effectively reverse everything you were trying to do during the Land Reform Program.
You’d have to amend the Constitution to create this imagined security of tenure. Stop lying to yourselves and the public.
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Pindula News

The government cannot give out title deeds for farms without changing the constitution first, says Fadzayi Mahere. They appointed a committee to make existing land documents more valuable. Farmers could use their land as collateral for loans. But Mahere says there is no law to give out title deeds for agricultural land now. This would go against the constitution. They would have to change the Constitution completely to do this. Mahere says the government is not being honest about this.

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