Controversy rages over land nationalisation (Zimbabwe)

[struggle4progress]

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The Minister of Special Affairs in charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, John Nkomo last week announced that the State would move to nationalise land and replace title deeds with 99-year leases while those in wildlife and conservancies would get 25-year leases.
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“It would be unconstitutional to nationalise land because the constitution does not provide for that; the State can only acquire land,” (Lovemore Madhuku) said. It is feared that some high ranking government officials who acquired multiple farms for themselves in direct contravention of the one man-one farm principle could take advantage of the nationalisation programme to keep the farms that President Mugabe has said they should surrender, because it would then be difficult to determine the status of specific properties.
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The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) president Davison Mugabe said there was need to ensure that the farmers’ plans were not compromised by the question of tenure. “To start with, take a look at the 99-year lease and what it would mean to a farmer. As a farmer, one has a number of issues and programmes he is aiming to achieve at a set time. What is important to everyone in the farming sector is security of tenure. That is one of the issues we seek to settle first,” he told the Sunday Mirror.
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Mangaliso Kubheka of the South African-based Landless People’s Movement, said the process of nationalisation ran contrary to the ideals of land reform that entailed empowering ordinary people.
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http://www.africaonline.co.zw/mirror/stage/archive/040613/national6283.html