2,000 farmers get settlement permits

Harare Bureau
THE government has issued more than 2,000 of the recently launched permanent settlement permits to A1 farmers countywide as it seeks to bring sanity on farms and support productivity. The new document introduced early this month endorses A1 farmers’ security of tenure and governs use of the land. The document also seeks to bring sanity to the land redistribution programme following allegations of multiple farm ownership.

Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said in an interview last week that his ministry had embarked on a countrywide audit of farms.

“Since President Mugabe launched the A1 settlement permits on July 2, we have issued more than 2,000 settlement permits to farmers,” Dr Mombeshora said.

He said A1 resettled farmers had been relying on offer letters which were issued at the district administrators’ offices. “The offer letters that A1 farmers have been using were not effective as they were not detailed and were issued by several offices and as a result created confusion in the process,” Dr Mombeshora said.

He said the new A1 permit was the same with the 99-year lease and worked as a title deed for the land.
Dr Mombeshora said the permit issued by the Minister of Lands and Resettlement was signed by both the owner and a spouse and also gave guidelines on the inheritance of the farm in case of death.