HARARE – The Zimbabwean Parliament erupted in an emotive debate last week over a motion to provide security of tenure for occupants of communal lands.
The proposal, led by the leader of the opposition, Clifford Hlatywayo, sparked discussions on how to empower rural communities and unlock the economic potential of these areas, with lawmakers drawing inspiration from successful models in neighboring South Africa.
The debate took center stage when Leslie Mhangwa, a legislator, highlighted the historical disempowerment of rural communities due to land tenure insecurity. He emphasised the need for solutions.
He specifically referenced the Ingonyama Trust of the Zulu Nation in South Africa as a potential model. Established in 2000, this trust manages vast tracts of land for the benefit of Zulu communities.
The trust generates income through leases for various businesses, reinvesting the profits back into community development projects.
Mhangwa’s proposal resonated with some legislators who see traditional title deeds as a potential source of unintended consequences.
The “usufruct” model, where communities collectively own the land with individual families having user rights, emerged as a possible alternative.
“Each community can have trustees to ensure the collective good is preserved. We can get much more from our land.
“Certainly, with will, how can we not as this august House, adopt such innovation to give the majority of our people security of land tenure in communal lands and complete the business of the First and Second Chimurenga?
“The security of tenure is an opportunity to empower and create wealthy traditional authorities and fast-track the devolution agenda. The primary beneficiaries of any resource in this country should be those that are blessed by God with that resource.
“I can only imagine that security of land tenure was the missing link in the past when empowerment and growth schemes were mooted. Had this been embraced early on, our growth points by now would have been grown points,” he said.
The debate follows a long history of land ownership struggles in Zimbabwe.
Tendai Nyabani, another legislator, argued for a focus on providing resources to farmers already allocated land under the 99-year lease program.
“We should not only continue to put the issue of 99-year lease forward, but also the issue of title deeds. On the issue of 99-year lease, there are some of the things which need improvement in terms of farming.
“Right now, people were given the 99-year leases, but when I am doing my investigation on the farms, I see that people are just holding the 99-year lease, yet they do not have enough equipment and resources to practice farming.
“If you go to the farms, some people have land which ranges from 60-1000 hectares.
“In my view, Government was supposed to intervene like what it did by giving people the 99-year leases, by giving the people equipment like tractors so that they will be able to utilise the land properly and also provide inputs like fertilisers and seed and put in place irrigation facilities.
“If adequate resources to utilise these farms are not provided, we end up saying that people are failing to utilise the farms,” he said.
