Online Reporter
Lonster Mutata
Herald Correspondent
The Land Reform Programme is entering a new era of consolidation and opportunity, with Government accelerating efforts to build a secure, bankable and digitally integrated land tenure system that will unlock greater investment, productivity and prosperity, Permanent Secretary for Lands and Rural Development Professor Prosper Matondi has said.
Speaking on Tuesday before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands at Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, he said the next phase of the programme is about building on the historic gains already made while creating systems that will enable farmers, communities and investors to derive greater economic value from the land.
Prof Matondi outlined the Ministry’s progress in strengthening land administration, improving tenure security and modernising systems that support the productive use of land.
“We have taken the time to reflect on what land means for us,” he said.
“It is probably one of the most uniting assets for all of us, a uniting asset in the sense that it offers enormous opportunities for self-development, livelihoods, and better income.”
Prof Matondi said the country is now firmly positioned to move beyond the question of access to land towards maximising its productive and economic potential.
“Land is an asset base that we need to utilise to generate income, wealth and prosperity for our people.
“It has the potential to do that,” Prof Matondi said.
This emerging focus places greater emphasis on ensuring that land is supported by the right systems, documentation, financial opportunities and information to enable those who use it to invest, expand production and build sustainable livelihoods.
A major component of this transformation is the drive towards secure tenure and the issuance of title deeds, which Government sees as an important foundation for investment and access to finance.
Prof Matondi said growing interest from farmers had encouraged wider participation by financial institutions in the tenure regularisation programme, creating an increasingly broad financial ecosystem around secure land tenure.
“Originally, we had only one bank participating in the programme.
“Then, over time, because of the interest shown by farmers who wanted to regularise their tenure, Government opened it up, and now other banks are coming in to participate in the programme.
“I am sure that will broaden the opportunities for our clients,” he said.
The growing participation of banks is opening an important new dimension in the land reform story, with secure tenure increasingly positioned to support access to financial services, investment and productive agricultural enterprises.
Therefore, the ministry’s work is helping strengthen the link between land and economic empowerment, ensuring that the value created through the land reforms can increasingly translate into tangible opportunities for farmers and communities.
Prof Matondi said Government was simultaneously advancing the digital infrastructure required to modernise the country’s land administration system.
The transformation will bring together information covering land records, mapping, surveys, allocations, acquisitions and other administrative processes, creating a more connected and efficient land information environment.
At the centre of this transformation is the National Cadastre System, which is being developed to integrate these systems and provide a comprehensive national platform for land information.
“We currently operate several different databases that we now want to synchronise and migrate onto better digital platforms,” Prof Matondi said.
“What I want is for a client to request a map of their farm and immediately access Surveyor-General information and any other relevant information from a single platform.”
The vision is a land administration system in which information can be accessed more efficiently, services delivered faster and farmers interact with Government through modern and responsive platforms.
“That is what the National Cadastre System is intended to address, and we genuinely want to move in that direction so that clients have better access to their information and receive more efficient services.”
The digital transformation is being complemented by renewed efforts to strengthen national spatial land-use planning, positioning the country to make more strategic use of its diverse agricultural and natural resource base.
Prof Matondi said Zimbabwe needed a comprehensive national land-use plan capable of guiding farmers, investors and Government towards the most appropriate and productive uses of land in different parts of the country.
“If someone wants to become a livestock farmer, they will know exactly where livestock production is appropriate.
“If they want to grow macadamia, they will know where those conditions exist,” he said.
Such planning will also strengthen the coordination of national infrastructure development by enabling Government to anticipate and plan for land requirements for roads, airports, pipelines, bridges and other strategic projects.
It represents a broader vision in which land administration, agriculture, investment, infrastructure and spatial planning work together as part of a coherent national development framework.
Prof Matondi said the evolution of the Land Reform Programme represented an important opportunity to consolidate the historic transformation of land ownership while ensuring that its economic potential continues to expand.
He described the Land Reform Programme as a unique national undertaking whose full potential could increasingly be realised through stronger systems, greater certainty and continued innovation.
“You cannot easily compare it with any other,” Prof Matondi said.
“However, the responsibility for taking this historic programme to its next level rests with us. We are the generation entrusted with building on the foundation created through the land reform and translating its gains into greater certainty, productivity, investment and prosperity.
“By strengthening the systems around land and opening up new opportunities for its productive use, we can ensure that the full value of this transformation is realised for generations to come.”
The emerging land administration framework is bringing together secure tenure, title deeds, banking, digital land records and national spatial planning as interconnected pillars of the next phase of land reform.
Together, these reforms point towards a modern land administration system in which land is not merely occupied, but properly documented, efficiently managed and fully integrated into the country’s wider development agenda.
