Minister Mombeshora

Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
Farmers who are being evicted from their land by new owners armed with offer letters should seek clarification with the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement, a Government official said yesterday.

This follows numerous land disputes involving settlers who have been on land for several years and farmers issued with fresh offer letters.

The affected farmers said they were troubled by double allocations as the new owners brought proof of ownership of the same land.

Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said it was impossible to have double land allocations as the ministry had a database with all the names and details of resettled farmers.

“We will investigate and find out if the offer letters are authentic and the person responsible for the letters,” he said.

The issue of double allocations has mainly been witnessed in the A1 farming sector where farmers are anxious as they are afraid of being removed from the farms anytime.

“Generally, this should not be happening. We used to have challenges when the offer letters were being issued by the district administrators, but we have since stopped them. Now the A1 offer letters are being issued by the Provincial Administrators.

“For the A2 farms, only the minister is responsible for issuing out offer letters. We cannot generate a new offer letter without cancelling the previous one,” he said.

Dr Mombeshora said aggrieved farmers should approach the lands offices for verification of the new offer letters.

Demand for land for resettlement continues to rise with the waiting list registering 500 000 people for both A1 and A2 models with more applications still pouring in.

Major land disputes are usually a result of double allocations, boundaries, infrastructure ownership and sharing, inheritances and illegal settlements.

Government recently recalled all offer letters issued to farmers resettled under the A1 scheme and replaced them with the new document which makes it easier to account for the farmers as efforts to audit land ownership intensify.