Govt moves to deal with illegal land allocations

Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Government has drawn up a list of all people, including traditional leaders, who have been illegally parcelling out land, as it moves to rationalise land ownership in Mashonaland West Province.

In some instances, the haphazard parcelling out of land resulted in some people being settled on grazing land. Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Webster Shamu said the culprits will soon be brought to book.

“There are some who were sold land and as we speak, we now have the names of those who engaged in that practice,” Minister Shamu said.

“We will soon be moving to address those situations. It cannot remain like that forever,” he said. Minister Shamu said chiefs, councillors and legislators do not have the power to give people land. His office, he said, was seized with rationalising double allocations, occupying grazing land and illegal allocations.

“We have a challenge of people who settled themselves on land and others who have been on the land for a long time, but have no offer letters. Others, including war veterans, have been getting letters of eviction,” he said. Some settlers in areas such as Zvimba have begun receiving eviction notices for occupying grazing land and illegally settling themselves.

With demand for land still high, Minister Shamu said, Government is now pinning its hopes on the audit of farm sizes to ensure they conform to gazetted thresholds. Government has promised to decisively address land challenges in the province.