Justice Zhou, AfricaNews reporter in Harare, Zimbabwe
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has hit out at plans to embark on a parallel farmland audit by some cabinet ministers from the former ruling Zanu (PF) party in disregard of the Zimbabwe coalition government's processes, his office has said. He was reacting to a report in the state media which revealed the plan, spokesperson in the office of the Prime Minister Luke Tamborinyoka said in a statement.
It comes as the southern African country battles to restore its regional “bread basket” status since President Robert Mugabe ordered the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks in 2000, in a chaotic agrarian reform that prompted both the economy and agriculture sector’s collapse.
The state Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday that Murerwa had set up a land resolution committee tasked to “resolve conflicts on double allocation, farm boundaries and other challenges.”
“A report in the State media today indicates that the Zanu PF Land reform department led by Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and Lands Minister Hebert Murerwa wants to undertake a countrywide land audit, notwithstanding the fact that Minister Murerwa is required to do the same process for Government,” Tamborinyoka said.
He added that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which was now part of Zimbabwe’s constitution solely obligated the tripartite unity government to roll out the audit.
“Since 2009, the Ministry of Lands has done nothing in this regard and has not even come up with a framework for the land audit.”
“While it is acknowledged that Ministers have assignments for their political parties in this instance the Government and people of Zimbabwe are expecting a proper land audit that is expected to reveal multiple farm owners and those that are not producing on the land allocated to them,” the statement said.
He said as the Prime Minister was responsible for supervision and implementation of government policy, he expected the minister of Lands to adhere to a proper land audit as required by law and as identified by his ministry as a key priority.
The coalition’s principals have agreed that there must be a land audit to assess ownership and production levels at all the farms in the country.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti had projected the agriculture sector will grow by 11.6 percent in 2012, but he might be forced to revise down the figure after the agriculture minister said earlier this year that Zimbabwe faced a shortage of its staple maize grain after poor rains resulted in about a third of the planted crop being written off.
Agriculture accounted for 20 percent of Zimbabwe's gross domestic product and 40 percent of export earnings before the farm grabs.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has hit out at plans to embark on a parallel farmland audit by some cabinet ministers from the former ruling Zanu (PF) party in disregard of the Zimbabwe coalition government's processes, his office has said. He was reacting to a report in the state media which revealed the plan, spokesperson in the office of the Prime Minister Luke Tamborinyoka said in a statement.
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