MDC calls for an urgent land audit
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
MDC calls for an urgent land audit
The MDC has been vindicated on its calls for the government to carry out a
proper land audit following a ruling by the High Court on Tuesday that the
Ministry of Lands should have a clear, transparent and accountable land
allocation policy.
In his judgment, Justice Bharat Patel slammed the Lands Ministry over its
murkiness in land distribution as he reversed the Lands Ministry’s 2005
decision to offer Denby Farm in Seke to a senior Zanu PF politician who
already had another farm next to Denby Farm in 2001.
The MDC condemns the continued greed shown by the senior Zanu PF politicians
in acquiring more than one farm and the MDC’s position remains that there
should be a comprehensive, transparent and non-partisan land audit to weed
out multiple farm ownerships and identify underutilised land as stipulated
by the law.
Zanu PF’s land allocation process has been fraught with corruption and
confusion as only last week, Grace Mugabe was reported to have taken over
part of the lucrative Mazoe Estates in Mazowe leaving hundreds of workers
without jobs. Grace Mugabe already owns several farms in Mazowe.
It is therefore important for the inclusive government, to carry out a land
audit in line with the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in order to reassert
agriculture on the pole position as the country’s economic mainstay.
Article V of the GPA is very specific. It requires the inclusive government
to undertake a land audit in order to clear up Zanu PF’s disorder, created
during the chaotic land reform exercise. For that reason, the MDC and the
people of Zimbabwe are calling for an audit to revisit Zanu PF’s land reform
exercise with the aim of restoring to maximum productivity, all agricultural
land.
By carrying out a proper land audit, Zimbabwe will be able to improve food
security and increase the sector’s employment contribution.
In its economic policy, Juice, the MDC’s position is that when it forms the
next government this year, it will carry out an independent land audit and
restore Zimbabwe’s status as the breadbasket of Southern Africa within the
next three years.
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