Zimbabwe: Land reform moves ahead

[Jacuma]

By Walter Muchinguri

PLANS are underway to ensure, after the major land reform of
the past five years, that all of Zimbabwe is properly
surveyed, compensation for improvements calculated, lease
agreements monitored and land use properly planned.

In this context, the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement is now seeking to fill 155 vacancies for
professional and technical staff in the departments of the
Surveyor-General, Resettle-ment and Land Information
Management.

The Department of the Surveyor-General has several vacancies
for senior professional staff, including the post of Surveyor-
General itself, and the ministry wants to fill these
vacancies as soon as possible in addition to recruiting chief
land surveyors for its Harare and Bulawayo offices.

But among the most critical of the technical staff required
for this department are 44 land survey technicians whose
duties will include negotiating for land and improvements,
conducting preliminary valuations and co-ordinating with
other departments on compensation.

The technicians will be responsible for processing leases for
business sites in resettlement schemes and commercial areas,
reviewing expired leases for both business premises and
homesteads, processing lease transfers, following up lease
rental arrears, and recommending cancellation of non-
operational leases.

Apart from land survey technicians, the department was
looking for land officers who will, among other duties,
administer the land acquisition policy, facilitate land
acquisition, gazette resettlement farms, co-ordinate land
planning and handle delisting applications.

Also in demand are land technicians in the Department of
Valuation and Estates who will share some of the duties of
the land survey technicians.

Officials within the ministry said the recruitment exercise
was expected to make the job of flushing out multiple farm
owners much easier.

The ministry had launched a major clampdown on multiple farm
owners as it winds up the land resettlement programme and
shifts its focus to production on the farms.

This has resulted in some people including some ministers and
high-ranking officials being forced to surrender excess land.

The issue of multiple farm ownership came to light following
the production of a report by the Presidential Land Review
Committees appointed by President Mugabe and led by former
Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Cde Charles Utete.

The contents of the Utete report led the President to assume
responsibility for dealing with multiple landowners.

He subsequently appointed Cde John Nkomo to head the Ministry
of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, a separate entity
from the Ministry of Agriculture.