admin
Wallace Ruzvidzo
Herald Reporter
ADJUSTMENTS to the country’s land tenure system that were announced by President Mnangagwa on Tuesday will unlock huge amounts of finance, improve land security and spur economic growth, political analysts and observers have said.
The new era in land tenure will see all land held by beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme under 99-year leases, offer letters and permits, being held under a bankable, registrable and transferable document.
To ensure the smooth facilitation of the process, the Government has, with immediate effect, issued an indefinite moratorium on the issuance of any new 99-year leases, offer letters and permits for agricultural land.
In implementing the new policy, priority will be given to veterans of the liberation struggle, youths and women.
In addition, security of tenure to all agricultural land regularised under this programme will, at all times, only be transferable among indigenous Zimbabweans and land targeted for the new tenure system will exclude communal land that is under the jurisdiction of traditional chiefs.
In an interview, political analyst Mr Kudzai Mutisi said the latest development had sealed the Land Reform Programme by permanently transferring land to indigenous Zimbabweans.
“Overall, it is a good idea but the Government should put in some structures to ensure that there is no abuse of this system in terms of farmers losing their land to unscrupulous lenders.
“It is a good idea in that it unlocks a huge amount of finance across the economy,” he said.
Mr Mutisi said beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme now had easier access to financing which would certainly spur Zimbabwe’s economic growth.
“We now have hundreds of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans who now own land. Since they now have collateral, they can use it to get loans to balance other businesses or their farming activities so that unlocks a lot in terms of the economy.
“On the downside is the fact that some people may abuse the system in terms of corruption and we might have people who are now going to go and try to claim some land before they are given and we may also see some predatory financiers, predatory lenders who are going to be giving people loans that they know they are not going to pay back and take the land,” he said.
Another political analyst Mr Gondai Motongi said: “Bankable, registrable and transferable documents of tenure for land owners are welcome. These will allow farmers to borrow funds to modernise farming equipment and increase production on their farms”.
Economist Mr Persistence Gwanyanya said the new tenure system was welcome as it would ensure that the land’s true economic value is unlocked.
“I think it is a noble idea. It unlocks value from our land. We have significant value in the land, which we have not been able to unlock due to funding challenges.
“So you want the financial institutions to be able to participate in financing agriculture. Over time, agriculture has been very difficult to finance due to especially grower finance, it has always been very difficult because of the risks associated with it, but now the lenders are able to rely on the title for edit assurance which they need to be able to extend credit,” he said.
The new era in land tenure, said Mr Gwanyanya, would also see land contributing to the country’s fiscus,” he said.
Political analyst Advocate Obert Gutu said the land tenure system was indeed a game-changer from both legal and financial perspectives.
“This is a historic and progressive paradigm shift. The new system effectively gives transferable legal title to all lawful holders of 99 year leases, offer letters and permits.
“This gives them de facto title deeds to the land that they are lawfully occupying. Title deeds will enable indigenous farmers to easily access capital from commercial banks by way of registering mortgage bonds against their title deeds,” he said.
Adv Gutu said the farmers’ greatest grievance of access to capital had now been taken care of by the Second Republic.
“The greatest hurdle to the effective empowerment of resettled commercial farmers was their inability to easily access capital using their offer letters and permits as collateral security.
“Commercial banks were generally reluctant to offer financial assistance to the resettled farmers because they didn’t feel safe lending money to someone who’s occupying State land to which he/she doesn’t have legal title,” he said.
The transferability of land among indigenous Zimbabweans, said Adv Gutu, would also see more activity across the value chain.
“The new land tenure system will also enable the resettled farmers to legally transfer their ownership rights in the land to fellow indigenous people.
“This will boost trade in land and will also stimulate commercial activity in both the legal and real estate sectors.
“Going forward, it might actually lead to a situation whereby traditional title deeds are offered to the resettled farmers.
“Land should not be a dead asset because this effectively kills off the drive to stimulate agricultural production,” he said.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) secretary general Mr Paul Zakariya echoed the same sentiments.
“I think this settles a matter that has been long outstanding, the need for farmlands to be used as security for all agricultural borrowings or for borrowings related to farm development, including agricultural production.
“So, over the last two decades farmers were securing loans using properties outside the farmlands and that was not sustainable. Number one, because of the size of the borrowings for instance, if you are using a house, that house would not secure a long-term asset.
“So, before, the values were very low, because the assets outside the farms were also not carrying so much, you can imagine someone using their house in Budiriro to develop a commercial farm somewhere,” said Mr Zakariya.
He said financiers would also become more confident as they would have security as the value would have been restored on land.
“The transferability of land gives comfort to financiers, that if anyone, by any means, defaults on their loans, the bank now has a fallback, which means the debt can be actually be financed by somebody else and the firm then transfers ownership to whoever may have financed the debt.
“So, this is a game changer in terms of unlocking value on our land under the Land Reform Programme. And indeed other lands too. They had lost the value completely. They had zero value. Now, this restores value, the value of land,” said Mr Zakariya.
Mr Oliver Mutasa, a CCC member and former Zvimba East MP before he was recalled by the party’s secretary general Mr Sengezo Tshabangu, said the opposition welcomed President Mnangagwa’s latest move.
“This a positive move and in the direction of what we have been pushing for as the opposition,” he wrote on his official X handle.
Lead president Ms Linda Masarira said the new land tenure system would unlock the full economic potential of the country’s land.
“As the President of Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD), I welcome the Government’s decision to grant a “bankable, registrable, transferable, and more secure document of tenure” to beneficiaries of the land reform programme.
“This major shift is a step toward unlocking the full economic value of land, which has long been a critical factor in Zimbabwe’s socio-economic development,” she said.
Ms Masarira also lauded the clause that outlined that the land would only be transferrable to indigenous Zimbabweans.
“For too long, land reform beneficiaries have been constrained by insecure tenure, which has limited their ability to fully utilise the land as an asset for financial growth.
“The move to allow the sale of land among indigenous Zimbabweans is also an important safeguard to ensure that land remains in the hands of Zimbabweans, maintaining the integrity of the land reform programme while fostering economic empowerment and local ownership,” she said.
Zimbabwe Indigenous Women Farmers Association Trust (ZWIFAT) president Ms Depinah Nkomo said when she heard of the latest development, all she could say was “hallelujah” because President Mnangagwa had heard farmers’ cries.
“When I heard the development yesterday I was very overjoyed. I just hope that it all goes well and according to what President Mnangagwa has planned because it has been something I have been advocating for since 2015,” she said.
Ms Nkomo said going forward, farmers would now be confident to go full throttle in their operations as they would be able to access financing and also have peace of mind because of the enhanced security of tenure.
“Now we will be very much confident especially us women because we will be able to access financing and we will also be able to transfer ownership as stipulated.
“Before this development, we were not even confident to build proper infrastructure on our land so the President has heard our cry and as women, we are very happy we can now start our projects confidently and freely because we will now have that security,” she said.
Online Reporter