By Tracy Mutowekuziva
The land question has always been very political in Zimbabwe. This is reflected in the wording of the statutes that govern it.
The communal land in Zimbabwe is governed by pieces of legislation that were enacted in the colonial era, dating back to 1894 when the first reserves, Gwai and Shangani were set aside for the Ndebele. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s successive laws were passed aimed at alienating blacks from their ancestral lands. The land question inspired both the first and second Chimurengas (war of liberation).
In 1981, just a year after attainment of independence, the Zimbabwe government enacted the Communal Lands act which has carried over the letter and spirit of colonial racist land policies. According the Act, black Zimbabweans only have the right to use and occupy their ancestral lands at the mercy of the President. . As argued in the case of Livison Chikutu & Ors v Min of Lands & Ors. The Communal Land Act has a violent, obnoxious and racist origin.
It is a racist colonial relic. It is most shocking and inexplicable that a black government, born out of a bloody and protracted war of liberation against the white settler regime over the land question, has decided to retain this racist construct in its statute books.
The vesting of communal land in persons other than the original owners stemmed from the racist philosophy of alienation, domination and impoverishment. Lack of title prevented them from treating land as a commercially tradable commodity that was capable of individual ownership.
Section 71 of the constitution makes providisions for conditions for displacements. . The scenarios include in the interests of defense, public safety, public order etc. The scenarios’ parameters are not defined, they are left to interpretation. This makes the section subject to abuse.
Lately, there has been displacements of communities due to mining. This was the case in Marange ,Manhize and Murambinda . These displacements are enabled by section 4 of the Communal Land Act which vests all communal land in the President, the third respondent herein. The provision reads:
“4 Vesting of Communal Land
Communal Land shall be vested in the President, who shall permit it to be occupied and used in accordance with this Act.”
Section 6 of the Communal Land Act empowers the President to make additions to or make subtractions from communal land.
Although the constitution does provide for compensation of the moved parties, no family or community has been compensated for displacement in Zimbabwe in the past decade., The issue of ‘`adequate’ compensation also arises. Section 71 (c ) (ii) of the Constitution compels the acquiring authority to to pay fair and adequate compensation for the acquisition before acquiring the property or within a reasonable time after the acquisition.
There is no framework or guidelines on how the amounts are supposed to be calculated and often this is at the discretion of the government and company. The communities of Marange that were moved to Arda Transau were given 4 bedroomed houses, a rondavel hut and $1000 disturbance allowance. . This was applied to all families irrespective of the developments they had made on their plots. Whilst some might have seen the news homesteads as an upgrade, others who had invested in building good homes on spacious land in Marange felt downgraded. There was no valuation of properties before demolition. No agreements were signed prior to displacement.
Recently, the lithium plant in Murambinda is said to have moved people from a rural setup to an urban one. The people were forced to sell their livestock as they did not fit in the urban set up.