The Sunday Mail
Lincoln Towindo Senior Reporter
Government is no longer issuing 99-year leases to land reform beneficiaries after private companies commissioned to survey farms pulled out over a US$6 million debt. Standing regulations mandate the Surveyor-General’s Department to survey properties of lease applicants. However, the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement has been sub-contracting private companies because the Department is financially hamstrung.
Things came to a head when the Ministry failed to pay the companies, resulting in them walking out of the arrangement.
The Minister, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, told The Sunday Mail last week: “We have a big challenge with regards to the issuance of 99-year leases because of our inability to carry out farm surveys. The rules state that the applicant must first apply to the Ministry. After we receive this application, we then send our inspectors to check whether there are any operations taking place on the farm.
“The inspectors will also look at the farm’s operational records spanning three years to ascertain whether the farmer would have been productive during that period. Secondly, the farm has to be properly surveyed. That is where we have the biggest challenge.
“The Surveyor-General’s Office has not been operating properly for a while now. As a result, we have been using private surveyors, and this costs a lot of money. They (the private surveyors) are now reluctant to work with us, resulting in work slowing down.”
Minister Mombeshora said the Department now has a flicker of life after the United Nations Development Programme intervened with funding.
Government introduced 99-year leases to give A2 land reform beneficiaries security of tenure.
Some farmers secured the documents while thousands others remained apprehensive with offer letters as their only claim to land.
In 2014, the authorities issued A1 permits to small-holder farmers who got properties via land reforms.
The Survey-General’s Department —like other key institutions — was hard hit when critical personnel migrated at the height of the 2007/2008 economic challenges.
Agriculture expert Mr Peter Gambara said: “The Government should make the (99-year system) more attractive so that beneficiaries chip in with assistance. I’m sure not a lot of money is required.”
