Mkhululi Ncube/Patrick Chitumba, Chronicle Reporters
GOVERNMENT has been urged to avail more land for Bulawayo as the city has run out of expansion space.
This was raised during the formulation of the National Land Policy in Bulawayo on Tuesday.

The land policy is part of a raft policies being put in place by Government to revamp the country’s agricultural sector.
Other policies include Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, National Livestock Development Strategy, National Horticulture and Export Strategy, Climate Smart Agriculture, Agriculture Digitalisation Policy and the Climate Proofing of Input Support Programs.

Speaking during multi-stakeholders consultations on the land policy at a local hotel on Tuesday, Bulawayo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Judith Ncube said the province had run out of expansion land.

“Bulawayo Metropolitan Province has run out of land for housing and industrial development because the city is surrounded by Umguza District. We are confident that such issues among many others will be explicitly dealt with in the revised policy,” she said.

The minister said many changes have happened in the country on the land issue since the adoption of the 1990 National Land Policy hence the need for a revised policy that will address some of the prevailing challenges.

She said some of the changes include the adoption of a new Constitution in 2013.

“In light of significancy changes to the land ownership structure and production patterns emanating principally from the fast track land reform program, the need to mitigate the effects of climate change, technological advances, the increased demand for land for urbanisation, mining and for energy production among many others the Government is compelled to adopt a comprehensible gender sensitive national land policy,” said Minister Ncube.

Bulawayo City Council housing director, Mr Dictor Khumalo echoed the minister’s sentiments and called for the adoption of a master plan to address some of the unco-ordinated developments sprouting around the city of Bulawayo.

“As local authorities we are land chocked, we cannot breathe. There is no land for urban expansion but at the same time there are a lot of activities happening at the periphery of the city and creating a lot of pressure to the core. There is development that is not co-ordinated, there is development that lacks quality control and development that is not sustainable in the long run.

This development is a disservice to the people. In the long run it may need to be redone and that leads to wastage and duplication of resources. It’s a big cost to the country. We are witnessing developments not supported by requisite social infrastructure such as schools and clinics to our communities,” he said.

“We must consider focusing on master planning because this is the strategy we use as a country in urban local authorities. The master planning will enable us to do carpet to carpet planning. It will ensure co-ordinated development which is being done in a systematic manner.

It will give us a bird’s eye view of planning which is collaborative, integrated and strategic. We will be able to produce functional plans that will enable coordinated development between adjoining local authorities.”

Meanwhile, in an interview after a lands policy consultative workshop which was held in Gweru on Monday, National Land Policy consultant, Dr Charles Chavhunduka said there were a lot of gaps that needed to be addressed in the proposed policy that include dealing with conflicts between communities and miners.

He said the proposed national land policy also seeks to position the rights of the community on communal land which is state land with a view to compansate affected families in case of displacements.

“It also seeks to transfer offer letters into tradable 99-year leases among other proposals which will be given by stakeholders.

“We have got the land governance policy which is set to deal with people who are coming in to settle at grazing pastures. The population is growing and yet the land is not expanding.

“The policy should be clear on who should be settled where. We need demarcation and mapping of community boundaries to deal with conflicts of overlapping,” he said.

Dr Chavhunduka said the new policy should also amend the existing mines and minerals act.

“The Mines and Minerals Act should be amended as in its current form it gives too much power to people who come to invest in communities with owners of the land sometimes left with nothing.

“We also need to make sure that the regulatory authorities are constituted in such a way that will address gender issues in line with the national gender policy,” he said.

Stakeholders who attended the consultative meeting said they needed the land policy to address conflicts that often arise between the farmer and the miner.

“Currently we have a law which gives the miner the right to come and mine in my farm, this often raises conflicts so we want this law to come clean and correct this. We have been dealing with a colonial law which need to be revisited,” said Mr Benard Chanakira, a participant.

Another participant, Mrs Melody Moyo, said the new policy should address gender disparities which give men a right to land ownership.

“I have been touched by your document’s desire to deal with issues of gender parity. I believe there are a lot of historical injustices on the way the land has been distributed in the past. How do you intend to correct these imbalances where certain widows’ land was taken away when there was no such a policy?

I propose that you use existing empirical evidence based on baseline surveys in addressing such issues,” she said.

Chief Mapanzure of Zvishavane who also attended the consultative meeting said traditional leaders have been facing challenges in resolving land disputes and proposed a land policy which will deal with inheritance of land.

“As a traditional leader we have been facing a number of issues with regards to land disputes. You can’t separate issues of land and our culture. We have witnessed a number of challenges where the surviving spouse is given the rights to land which belongs to her husband’s clan.

Sometimes the children are chased away from their ancestral land by the new father and when the surviving spouse dies the husband might decide to marry again and the land that used to belong to Shokos automatically becomes the land for the Hoves. We need to address this,” he said.