The Sunday Mail
Clemence Machadu Insight
Howdy folks!
If the land question has already been infallibly answered in Zimbabwe, then there is a new question still waiting to be answered.
That question is being asked by the youths everyday, “Where is our share?”
Folks, that land reform is irreversible should not be merely construed in terms of us saying we are not giving back the land to the white former settlers.
No. It goes beyond that.
You see, one of the principles of good governance mentioned in Section 2(j) of the Constitution is “the equitable sharing of national resources, including land”.
But it is Section 289(c) which hits the nail hard when it says “the allocation and distribution of agricultural land must be fair and equitable, having regard to gender balance and diverse community interests”.
That being said, as long as it can be proven beyond doubt that the land reform process did not adequately address issues of equity and fairness amongst the indigenous people targeted as beneficiaries, then we surely can say land reform ought to be somehow reversible.
We have to first dichotomise this issue into the current status of the land reform exercise in Zimbabwe and the pattern under which land allocation has hitherto taken place, if we are to meaningfully understand it.
Land and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora hinted this year that there is virtually not much land left for new allocations, implying we have come to the twilight of this programme.
Said Dr Mombeshora, “From the land that we have, not much has been left for distribution. We have 900 000 hectares that are left but these will mainly be reserve land as we cannot afford to give all the land that we have.”
And when it comes to allocation, by 2013 about 276 620 indigenous households had taken ownership of 12 117 000 hectares of land.
If we are to dissect the beneficiary households, they will be broken down as follows:
What can we hypothetically deduce from the above if we are to reconcile it with the “new question” I alluded to earlier using the constitutional provisions cited as the yardstick?
Equity and fairness begin to cry, as the youths encourage them, “Cry equity, Cry fairness — Cry!”
But before narrowing it down into a youth affair, let’s try to situate the whole scenario in the national context.
Folks, the 2012 Census said that there are 3 076 222 households in Zimbabwe.
And since only 276 260 households benefited from the land reform exercise, one might want to imply that only 8,98 percent of total households in Zimbabwe benefited from the exercise, while the remaining 91,02 percent did not.
But that is not my main worry.
What worries and pains the most is that when it comes to youths, only a paltry 727 households got land. Out of the 276 620 beneficiary households!
It’s even worse in the A2 model whereby just 76 youth households benefited out of the 18 967 total beneficiaries under the model. The very model under which land utilisation is now between 45 and 50 percent!
Folks, youths represent 67 percent of Zimbabwe’s population.
There is, therefore, no equity to talk about when we have such majority of the population still landless.
These are the very youths bearing the brunt of the high unemployment rate and have now become very vulnerable to just about anyone holding 30 pieces of silver in their hands.
They are now ready to sing and sting for their supper.
To many youths, the land reform programme had already ended by the time they started to make conscious enquiries about it, which resulted in them being excluded.
Others probably had no money or did not have proof of funds to allow them to apply for A2 agricultural land then.
But how different can they be from the unsaid individuals who knew totally nothing about sugarcane farming but were rewarded for that ignorance with a thousand hectares of land?
Yet youths did not get it whether by hook or crook.
I believe that many youths would want another land reform programme, solely targeting them, to happen.
Such land reform would be informed by the strong desire to depoliticise the land issue and present it as an inclusive programme to improve the livelihoods of the majority of marginalised Zimbabweans while arousing agriculture production.
Anything short of that is land deform, not reform.
With small pieces of productive land to rear some animals, grow their mushroom, vegetables, tobacco and other crops, every youth could be singing “Huya uone kutapira kunoita kurima” right now.
Surely, agriculture cannot be the backbone of our economy if youths are nowhere near that economic spine.
Now, I ask again, should the land reform programme be irreversible?
Many, I am sure, will by now agree that more agricultural land should be allocated to youths.
Remember, one of the objectives of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme was “to create conditions for sustainable economic, social and political stability”.
Can we say there is now harmony in that trinity?
No, definitely not without enough land for the youths!
Now, some will start asking, “But where will the land come from when there is no more land to dish out?”
This is where we have to peg the extent at which land reform is “irreversible” in Zimbabwe.
I have already given the example of A2 farms, whereby less than 50 percent of that land is lying idle.
Folks, here we are talking about circa two million hectares of land that is viable for commercial agricultural business not being utilised.
Should it continue as business as usual in such enclaves?
No mhani, some offer letters should be reversed with that land being allocated to landless youths.
Unproductive farms should be repossessed, or the owners should remain with smaller pieces of land that they can manage.
A2 farms are not camping zones or places where one goes once in a while to shoot the rabbits and antelopes now finding habitat in the growing grass.
We cannot go anywhere as long as we allow that kind of behaviour.
Youths must be given a chance in agriculture. They deserve their day in the farm. They are only in the streets because they have found no place for them in the farms.
All they are looking for is a decent way to live the Zimbabwean Dream!
Later folks!
