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We have heard it before, and heard it again yesterday that the government would implement the one-person-one-farm policy. The policy is meant to take away land from those who hold multiple farms. Additionally, it would free up more land for re-allocation to land-hungry people who have been on provincial waiting lists since the launch of the Third Chimurenga in 2000. Given that some of the excess land is seldom fully utilised as it is too much for one person anyway, taking it back and allocating it to new beneficiaries should enhance overall production on the farms.
Most of those holding more than one farm are senior politicians, their relatives and those who are wealthy and close to the centres of political influence.
Our sister paper Sunday News carried a report yesterday, raising concern over possible multiple farm ownership in Masvingo. The problem is reportedly rife in Mwenezi and Chiredzi, districts that are among the country’s best in cattle and game ranching. Some politicians, it was reported are not using the farms themselves, but are leasing them for grazing, particularly in Beitbridge, further down.
Councillor Shongedzai Shoko of Mwenezi was bold enough to speak for all of us when he said politicians had taken over plots in Mateke area.
“There are certain politicians who have been allocated A2 plots when they have land especially in Chiredzi,” said Clr Shoko. “Some of the land is lying idle and people are scared of the names and can’t do anything about it. Some have not constructed anything on the farms. This is grossly unfair because we have a lot of people who still want land but cannot get into those farms.”
The unhappy situation in Masvingo is indeed a microcosm of a national disgrace that has to be tackled head on, and defeated.
Minister of State for Masvingo Province, Cde Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, chairman of the provincial lands committee, mentioned one influential politician, Minister Walter Mzembi as having given up a farm in Mwenezi, but cleared Cdes Jefta Chindanya and Shuvai Mahofa and Chief Fortune Charumbira.
Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, Dr Douglas Mombeshora said he would only act if the provincial lands committee approaches him with details of land grabs.
Both responses look to us a defensive posture for the ministers to take. These are not new allegations really as we have heard many of this nature before across the country.
As the responsible minister we don’t see Dr Mombeshora’s position as a useful one to take. He can cause action to be taken to investigate the allegations; not only in the case in point, but in pother provinces where we know this challenge is as well.
Our politicians must understand that everyone fought for this land in the three Chimurengas that Zimbabweans have fought against white colonial misrule. Therefore, they would be mistaken to view themselves as more equal than others to see justification in them gobbling up this finite resource.
In recent months, the government has shown it can tackle high-level corruption. We maintain that there indeed is a problem with regards to multiple farm ownership, just like in cases where some beneficiaries are leasing their allocated farms to whites. Multiple farm ownership is clearly corruption; it is land theft, an unpardonable crime. We would not be afraid to point out that corruption in our country has become so pervasive that even our top politicians are involved.
We demand that it be stopped.
If allowed to continue, it would be a sobering betrayal of dozens of common Zimbabweans who put themselves on the firing line of armed former white farmers who chased them away and physically attacked them at the height of the Third Chimurenga. Ordinary Zimbabweans are not fools who reclaimed the resource from whites and then sit back in their landlessness as politicians engage in a frenzied land grab.
We call on the corrupt elements to be ashamed of themselves and give up the land for those in desperate need of it to enjoy the fruits of their toil.
As we point this out, we recognise that, in addition to voluntarily giving up of excess land by those holding it, a comprehensive land audit would help us identify those elements. Of course, the audit would be targeted at other issues like farm utilisation levels, farm sizes and so on but an interesting element of it would be the new ownership structure that emerged after the land reform programme. It is one critical assessment that we are looking forward to so that elements such as those Clr Shoko referred to are named and shamed, their stolen land repossessed.
Online Reporter