Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Amon Murwira has warned that village heads caught selling or helping others sell state land will be treated as land barons and face arrest.
Murwira encouraged anyone with proof of illegal land deals to report them.
Reports suggest that village heads, especially in areas like Domboshava, Seke, Nyabira, Rusape, and Chesa Farm, have illegally settled over 10,000 people.
The scheme involves villagers selling land and sharing the profits with the village head. The village head helps new settlers by forging documents and getting them approved by the chief, who is also said to receive a share of the money.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Murwira, who was standing in for Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe, said village heads involved in these activities are considered land barons. He said (via <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/village-heads-warned-against-selling-state-land/">The Herald</a>):
<blockquote>
If there are village heads selling land, we call them land barons. It is illegal, with regard to law; they are supposed to be arrested. That is Government policy or that is the law. If there is anyone with concrete evidence like what the Honourable Member alluded to, these people must be arrested, that is Government policy.
</blockquote>
Murwira was responding to Albert Nyakuedzwa, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government, who asked about the government’s stance on village heads selling land in peri-urban areas, claiming they had settled over 10,000 people.
Another Member of Parliament raised a concern, alleging that some government workers responsible for overseeing land issues were aware of these illegal settlements but did nothing to stop them.
Murwira replied that if government workers knowingly allowed such illegal activities to happen, it should be considered corruption. He said:
<blockquote>
The issue that he is raising is that there are people who work for the Government and local authorities who may know what is happening and all that.
That is what we call corruption, and that is why we have laws that deal with corruption, which must prosecute those people who commit corruption. The question again is, is there such a law? The law is there.
Firstly, they are not supposed to sell land illegally. If they do that, they will be prosecuted. Secondly, people who see people selling land illegally and just keep quiet are also involved in corruption; they will also be arrested. Corruption is illegal; selling land is illegal.
</blockquote>
National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Zhemu Soda said traditional leaders do not have the right to sell state land. He warned that those who are selling land could face long prison sentences.

Pindula News

Village heads caught selling state land will be treated as land barons and face arrest. Reports say over 10,000 people have been illegally settled by village heads in some areas. Villagers sell land and share profits with the village head, who forges documents to help new settlers. Foreign Affairs Minister Amon Murwira warned village heads involved in illegal land deals will be arrested. Government workers who allow illegal settlements may also face corruption charges. Traditional leaders do not have the right to sell state land and those doing so could go to prison.

Village Heads Caught Selling State Land To Be Treated As Land Barons

Two village heads from Nyamandlovu appeared before Bulawayo Magistrate Maxwell Ncube on Friday, 23 February facing a charge of unlawfully allocating 38 stands to home seekers.
As reported by the <a href="https://newsday.co.zw/southerneye/local/article/200023533/village-heads-up-for-selling-state-land">Southern Eye</a>, the accused are Chikombingo Moses Nyamande (84) and village development committee member Danisa Nyathi (59).
They were not asked to plead before being remanded to 21 March for trial.
Nyathi and Nyamande are resettled farmers on gazetted State land.
It is the State’s case that since 21 January 2023, Nyamande and Nyathi have allocated stands to 38 villagers without State authority.
The villagers allegedly moved onto the land and built structures.
On 22 January this year, police received a tip-off that the duo were illegally parcelling out State land and visited the area where they discovered that 38 illegal settlers had already built housing structures.
The accused failed to produce documentation authorising the settlers to occupy the land in question leading to their arrest.
Police recently launched “Operation Order No To Land Barons” targetting people accused of being irregularly settled on State land.
This has resulted in the arrest of hundreds of villagers across the country.
Four village heads from Dema in Mashonaland East Province were convicted after appearing in court for selling stands in undesignated places and pocketing the proceeds.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Village Heads In Court For Selling State Land

Land officers have been urged to shun corruption in discharging their duties, especially in land distribution and dispute resolution, reported <a href="https://www.zbcnews.co.zw/?p=18590">ZBC News</a>.
The call was made by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Obert Jiri.
Jiri was speaking at a one-day land use and planning management training workshop held at the Midlands Convention Centre in Gweru last Thursday. Said Jiri:
<blockquote>
Let us make the land issue the pride of our nation through cultivating a culture of absolute transparency, and sincerity, and fostering a corrupt-free environment.
I want to take this opportunity to warn you that whoever will be involved in corruption entanglements will face the long arm of the law.
We want you to represent the ministry well by executing your duties well.
</blockquote>
Jiri also said there is a need to rotate land officers as a measure to mitigate corruption.
Ministry of Land officials have been accused of rampant illegal sales and distribution of state land.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Land Officers Warned Against Corruption

An elderly woman from Chigodora communal lands in Manicaland Province recently appeared at Headman Chigodora’s court for selling State land to desperate home-seekers.
<a href="https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/specialist-hospital-to-open-in-august">The Manica Post</a> reported that Idah Kaserera allegedly subdivided and sold residential stands in the Chitakatira area of Mutare to eight land seekers for US$1 000 each.
She also pocketed US$200 more from each land seeker to create access roads to their stands.
The community court heard that all in all, Kaserera pocketed $9 600 from the land seekers.
In justifying her actions, Kaserera told the court that the land belongs to her family and therefore she could dispose of it as she pleases. She said:
<blockquote>
I sold my land after we gathered that the council wanted to repossess the land for residential purposes since it is in a peri-urban area.
I did nothing wrong and went on to charge the road fee as is the norm in all urban settlements.
The land is paid for in urban settlements, while residents have to pay for their roads to be serviced.
It was not fair for me to peg the road without receiving anything from the land seekers.
</blockquote>
Some of the land seekers claimed that Kaserera sold them land that belongs to her sons, Evson and Walter Kaserera, who now want their land back.
Headman Chigodora fined Kaserera US$2 400 for selling State land and also ordered her to reimburse the eight land seekers their money by 30 June 2023. Said headman Chigodora:
<blockquote>
This is State land and should never be sold. If you felt that you no longer wanted the land, you should have surrendered it back to Government through the village head and traditional leadership. Instead, you sold it to unsuspecting land seekers.
It is either you pay the fine or reimburse the land seekers their money and let them stay for free on that land.
If you opt to pay the fine and evict them, you still have to reimburse them the money they paid for the land and the expenses they incurred in developing the land.
</blockquote>
She said she would inform her children about the court ruling and decide on the next course of action.
More: <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

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