New offer letters for A1 farmers
November 8, 2013 Shingirai Huni <http://www.chronicle.co.zw/author/shingirai/> Local News <http://www.chronicle.co.zw/category/s6-demo-section/c38-local-news/>
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Minister Mombeshora
Harare Bureau
GOVERNMENT is recalling all offer letters issued to farmers resettled under the A1 scheme, replacing them with a new document that outlines the requirements for one to be considered a bona fide land owner.
Lands and Resettlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora yesterday said the new offer letters would contain more data compared to the previous ones and advised farmers not to panic as no one would be removed from the land during the process.
“The new offer letter is being given to farmers on the land,” said Minister Mombeshora. “No-one is being resettled. No one will lose a farm in the process.”
The new document contains information about the name of the farm owner, the address, plot number, farm size and states conditions pertaining to the offer.
The old letter had the farmer’s name, the identity number and the farm’s name only.
According to the new offer letter, the farmer should take up personal and permanent residence on the allocated land. The old letter states that if the land is not taken up in 30 days, it would be repossessed and allocated to someone else.
But the new document gives the farmer 14 days to communicate with the land committee if he or she does not accept the land offer and states that the farmer should not cede, assign or grant any right of occupants in respect of the piece of land offered.
“In the event of withdrawal or change of this offer, no compensation will be claimable or payable whatsoever,” reads the new document.
“The District Land Committee reserves the right to withdraw or change this offer if it deems necessary or if you are found in breach of any of these conditions. The interpretation of the document solely lives with the District Land Committee and the undersigned.”
Dr Mombeshora recently said his team would tour provinces to acquaint the ministry with challenges in the land reform programme in line with the provision in the Zanu-PF election manifesto.
He said he wanted chief land officers to make sure that all the families that moved into the farms long back got offer letters first.
“This should be done by end of November,” he said. “The officers should clear offer-letter backlogs and disputes to allow farmers to shift focus to production.”
Dr Mombeshora said land officers should avoid giving offer letters to individuals who intend to move into already occupied farms.
Efforts were being made to end corruption in the allocation of land. Dr Mombeshora said there were situations where individuals in the land committees allocated farms to relatives, friends and at times to strangers for a fee.
“Fresh farm occupations should stop forthwith to allow agriculture to drive the economy,” he said.
Dr Mombeshora said Government would not repossess farms occupied by indigenous farmers perceived to be under-utilising land for as long as sanctions remained in place