Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike-Senior Reporter
THE Government has cleared the air on Minister Anxious Masuka’s responses to questions regarding the land issue during last week’s National Assembly Question and Answer Session, following a barrage of misinformation from other sections of the media.
Legislators posed questions to the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Dr Masuka in Shona, and the minister also responded in vernacular, which led to his response receiving various misinterpretations.
Some sections of the media misinterpreted his responses as saying the Government was reversing the Land Reform Programme.
Dr Masuka gave the responses in his capacity as Leader of Government Business of the day since the responsible Minister of Lands and Rural Development was not in the House of Assembly last Wednesday.
“The minister, in his capacity as Leader of Government Business, and in the absence of the Minister of Lands and Rural Development in the House of Assembly last Wednesday, responded in Shona to questions fielded in Shona relating to land,” said the ministry in a statement.
“The minister highlighted that the Second Republic, under the leadership of the President, His Excellency, Dr ED Mnangagwa, had taken the unprecedented and revolutionary step to issue title deeds to 360 000 A1 farmers and 23 500 A2 farmers.
“The minister highlighted that 840 indigenous farms gazetted at the height of the land reform programme will be returned to their owners.
“The minister further highlighted that 67 BIPPA farms gazetted, but which remained unoccupied would be returned to the investors.”
The ministry added that, “The minister elaborated that, regarding the 409 former farm owners who are peacefully co-existing with beneficiaries, these would be allowed to purchase their farms or portions thereof, with a set-off mechanism for their investments, which should be compensated, but not the land.
“Lastly, the minister indicated the President’s magnanimity in directing the issuance of title deeds to 10 000 Matenganyika Farmers, who continue to hold leases issued before independence.
“Land was a core grievance against the heinous and minority settler oppressive regime. This drove thousands of blacks to wage an armed struggle to liberate ourselves from the shackles of oppression.
“Now the people are with their land and the land with its masters. Land reform is, therefore, irreversible.”
During last week’s sitting, Dr Masuka also clarified issues of small-holder farmers regarding leases and title deeds.
He told Parliament that small-holder farmers were being given lease agreements, not title deeds.
“Lastly, let me talk about what has not been talked about mostly, which was founded by the President that we are looking at,” he said.
“These are the small-scale farmers. The small-scale farmers were simply being given lease agreements, they are not title deeds.
“There are 10 000 farms and the Government is going to give those small-scale farmers 10 000 title deeds.”
So where is the clarity about the Minister’s statement that land will be given back to its original owners? This actually confirms that indeed land will be given back to its original owners. There is no misinterpretation of this statement given in vernacular. Judging from what this compensation deal for improvements on the farms struck between government and former white land owners that has drowned our country into an unimaginable debt, one can easily see the reversal of land reform. This doesn’t require one to go to school to understand the situation. The idea of land ownership that drove us to fight was not based on taking the land from individual white people and handing it over to individual black people. In other words land was seen as a natural gift from God for all people. It was meant to be distributed fairly to all people with the government holding it in trust of the people. Issuance of land titles is just retaining the old white system with a similar black one. Those blacks with money stand to gain and own land. The rural indigenous people who bore the brand of liberation struggle are being left to erk a living in almost the same fashion they were in Rhodesia. Read the statement from the minister about small scale holders and rural population regarding titles. It clearly alludes to that. It is really sad. Cde Robert Mugabe and all the people who laid their precious life for this country are turning in their graves. Cry beloved Zimbabwe!!