Online Reporter
Theseus Mauruki Shambare, Harare Bureau
A MAJOR overhaul of Zimbabwe’s land ownership laws is in the pipeline, with authorities introducing a new verification process intended to halt illegal land sales while simultaneously unlocking the value of existing properties lacking formal documentation.
The reforms will seek to ensure that prospective land buyers can establish who legally owns a property, whether it has been properly surveyed and planned and whether it can legally be transferred before committing their money.
Work is also underway to formalise ownership of properties in established communities, including high-density suburbs and growth points, potentially allowing homeowners to use them as economic assets and access formal financing.
Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said the approach was intended to tackle the root causes of illegal settlements and land disputes rather than relying on demolitions after people have already invested heavily in their properties.
He was speaking at the Land Tenure High-Level Stakeholder Breakfast Meeting held in Harare last week.
“Government is not desirous of demolishing people’s homes and Government hasn’t demolished any homes,” he said.
Minister Garwe said many people caught up in land disputes were not necessarily illegal occupiers, but citizens who had paid for stands from individuals who had no legal authority to sell them.
The result, he said, was that unsuspecting buyers could invest substantial sums in houses before discovering that the land had never been legally allocated or transferred to them.
“We are saying these people have invested so much in building these houses and, in the process, they have created employment for the people that assisted them in building those houses,” he said.
The proposed system would, therefore, place greater emphasis on verification before construction, with the Government seeking to ensure that land offered for sale is legally recognised and capable of being transferred.
“Anyone who is procuring land, whether through a local authority or through the private sector, is doing so with land that he can verify that this is purchasable land, it has got legitimate title deeds, it was properly surveyed, properly planned,” Minister Garwe said.
He said such a system would represent a significant shift from dealing with illegal settlements after they have developed to preventing fraudulent or irregular land transactions at the point of sale.
It would also target the activities of land barons and illegal land dealers who have taken advantage of gaps in land administration and the demand for residential stands.
Minister Garwe said the Land Tenure Committee, working with various Government ministries, would help create an environment in which citizens could establish the legal status of land before purchasing it.
The authorities will soon provide details on the proposed verification mechanism.
This will include the institutions responsible for confirming ownership, survey and planning status, the process buyers will follow and whether a centralised system will allow the public to check land records before making payments.
The Government believes this issue is particularly important given the proliferation of informal land transactions, including so-called “sabhuku” deals in communal areas and the activities of urban land barons.
Minister Garwe warned citizens against purchasing land from village heads, headmen or other individuals without first establishing their legal authority to dispose of the property.
“Please go and tell the village heads and warn that sabhuku deals are attracting penalties and that penalty is imprisonment,” he said.
“The law does not allow masabhuku to sell land.”
While the new approach is aimed at stopping illegal transactions in future, the Government is also dealing with the legacy problem involving properties in some suburbs where families have lived and invested for years without formal title.
Minister Garwe said thousands of homeowners had gone for decades without obtaining title deeds, leaving them without full security of tenure and limiting their ability to unlock the economic value of their homes.
He said the reforms would extend to every category of land where citizens required secure ownership.
“It is not about agricultural land alone it is about every piece of land where somebody wants to have peace of mind,” he said.
Established high-density suburbs are among the areas being targeted.
Minister Garwe specifically cited Highfield, Mbare and Mabvuku, saying residents who had occupied properties for decades deserved formal recognition of their ownership.
“They deserve to be given title deeds,” he said.
Minister Garwe said formal ownership would allow homeowners to leverage their properties to support productive economic activity.
“Imagine the world that will be created if all those houses in Highfield, Mbare, Mabvuku are titled, and people have got security, they can now go to a bank and access money, throw that money into their business,” he said.
The same principle, Minister Garwe added, would apply to growth points and areas administered by rural district councils.
“Our growth points, just like the rural district councils, must be surveyed and titled so that people can have security of tenure in those title deeds,” he said.
