We are concerned with the problems that continue taking place on the farms related to boundaries, double allocations and fresh occupations, which have seen farmers spending a lot of time at the lands offices instead of being productive on the farms.

These problems need to be tackled without delay so that farmers can concentrate on productivity.

There have been endless fights on the farms over boundaries and in some cases, double allocations where some corrupt land officers deliberately move boundaries and allocate occupied land.

The Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement needs to deal with this matter decisively as some lands officers, working in cahoots with greedy resettled farmers, shift the boundaries in favour of those greasing their hands.

This is not a fallacy as there have been numerous cases where the disputes over boundaries have been reported. There are many cases of such complaints lodged with the ministry that have remained unresolved and this has impacted negatively on agricultural production.

Lands officers must shun corruption and work for the good of all resettled farmers. It boggles the mind that over a decade after the successful implementation of the land reform programme, lands officers visit some farmers today to shift the boundaries. Naturally, this causes fights among the farmers, which is not good for land reform.

We want farmers to expend their energy on production and doing their level best, barring drought, to produce and ensure national food security. This they cannot do if they spend time shuttling between the farms and the lands offices for arbitration over the boundaries and double allocations.

It is time we put finality to the issues of boundaries, double allocations and fresh occupations and concentrate on agricultural production. Let those that were allocated land go about their business without disturbances or uncertainty.

Let not there be any cases of boundary shifting as this only leads to disharmony and hatred among the farmers, something not good for productivity.

Double allocations are inexcusable.

There should be a database that shows which farms or land already allocated and we strongly believe, it is deliberate on the part of lands officers to double allocate so as to easily further their corrupt tendencies as only the farmer with deep pockets ends up being asked to remain on the land while the poor is asked to leave and wait for re-allocation.

There have also been cases of fresh occupation of farms, something we thought the Government had put finality to a long time ago. We wonder where these people who are getting offer letters today have been all along to be allocated land when the rest of the people got land.

It leaves us with the feeling that such people were the Doubting Thomases who thought land reform would fail and now that its irreversibility is clear, they start causing confusion on the farms.

It is for this reason that we want to commend Vice President Mphoko for his sober approach to the Maleme Farm dispute.

There is no way we can support the occupation of our land by white former commercial farmers for their own benefit, No, but if the continued occupation by a few, is for the better good of the nation, then indeed there should be no reason for their removal.

A case in point is Maleme Farm in Matobo. Anything that is done for the greater good of the people, of a community should not be disturbed and this why VP Mphoko had to intervene, not in support of the white farmer but in support of the majority of the people.