| Ivhu Kuvanhu ● Umhlabathi Ebantwini ● Land to the People |
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The Land Acquisition Criteria should be:
1. Derelict land
2. Underutilised land
3. Land owned by absentee landlords
4. Land owned by a person with more than one farm
5. Land exceeding the prescribed limit in a region
6. Land contiguous to communal lands
1. Derelict land
2. Underutilised land
3. Land owned by absentee landlords
4. Land owned by a person with more than one farm
5. Land exceeding the prescribed limit in a region
6. Land contiguous to communal lands
Broken Promises
The Government of Zimbabwe had pledged that anyone who wants to remain a farmer will be accommodated. In the event
that farmers lose their only farm, the government promised to allocate the individual a farm in a suitable area for them to carry
out their farming operations.
The Government of Zimbabwe had pledged that anyone who wants to remain a farmer will be accommodated. In the event
that farmers lose their only farm, the government promised to allocate the individual a farm in a suitable area for them to carry
out their farming operations.
The OneManOneFarm.org seeks to reverse the repeasantisation of Zimbabwe and recommends an urgent revision and the
cataclysmic reversal of the current fast track land redistribution exercise. Most communal and resettlement areas have been
deliberately created to serve as reservoirs for cheap migratory labour for the new landlords. The rural beneficiaries now occupy
pieces of land without adequate equipment, inputs, security of tenure, training and social amenities.
cataclysmic reversal of the current fast track land redistribution exercise. Most communal and resettlement areas have been
deliberately created to serve as reservoirs for cheap migratory labour for the new landlords. The rural beneficiaries now occupy
pieces of land without adequate equipment, inputs, security of tenure, training and social amenities.
The international and donor community has focused on the plight of white farmers and has ignored the plight of their black
farm workers, farm managers and their dependents who have been affected by the fast track land redistribution programme.
farm workers, farm managers and their dependents who have been affected by the fast track land redistribution programme.
Agrarian reform, embraces improvements in both land tenure and agricultural organisation and its policy prescriptions urge the
governments to go beyond redistribution:
they should also support other rural development measures,
the improvement of farm credit,
farm-input supply and marketing,
extension services to facilitate the productive use of the land reallocated.
Whilst conceptually sound, the danger with these wider prescriptions is that they may discourage governments from doing
anything until they can do everything.
governments to go beyond redistribution:
they should also support other rural development measures,
the improvement of farm credit,
farm-input supply and marketing,
extension services to facilitate the productive use of the land reallocated.
Whilst conceptually sound, the danger with these wider prescriptions is that they may discourage governments from doing
anything until they can do everything.
Definition of Agrarian Reform
Agrarian Reform could be defined as the rectification of the whole system of agriculture. It is normally done by the government
where they redistribute the agricultural land among the farmers of the country. The agrarian reform is concerned with the relation
between production and distribution of land among the farmers. It also concerns the processing of the raw materials that are
produced by farming the land from the respective industries.
Definition of Land Reform
Land Reform is defined as a redistribution of agricultural land (especially by government action) through measures, such as the
division of large properties into smaller ones, that are taken to bring about a more equitable apportionment of agricultural land.
The two are different and only a pragmatic Agrarian Reform tackles the complex problems of the Zimbabwean land question.
The OneManOneFarm.org Agrarian Reform policy recommendations:
The beneficiaries:
Farmers eligible to receive land under the agrarian reform programme must be either of the following:
(a) those with farming as their main occupation, and
(b) those landless and willing to work on farm as their main occupation who
are either
(i) poor people living in overpopulated communal areas, or
(ii) graduates in agriculture, or
(iii) offsprings of a farm family
Agrarian Reform could be defined as the rectification of the whole system of agriculture. It is normally done by the government
where they redistribute the agricultural land among the farmers of the country. The agrarian reform is concerned with the relation
between production and distribution of land among the farmers. It also concerns the processing of the raw materials that are
produced by farming the land from the respective industries.
Definition of Land Reform
Land Reform is defined as a redistribution of agricultural land (especially by government action) through measures, such as the
division of large properties into smaller ones, that are taken to bring about a more equitable apportionment of agricultural land.
The two are different and only a pragmatic Agrarian Reform tackles the complex problems of the Zimbabwean land question.
The OneManOneFarm.org Agrarian Reform policy recommendations:
The beneficiaries:
Farmers eligible to receive land under the agrarian reform programme must be either of the following:
(a) those with farming as their main occupation, and
(b) those landless and willing to work on farm as their main occupation who
are either
(i) poor people living in overpopulated communal areas, or
(ii) graduates in agriculture, or
(iii) offsprings of a farm family
Definition of the 2000 Fast Track land redistribution Programme
The fast track exercise is a political survival strategy characterised by a well organised pattern of land invasions and land
allocations. Farm invasions become the preferred tool for a series of political purges that culminated with the evictions of
commercial farmers. This tactic was employed in order to coerce the farmers and their farm workers to support the ruling party.
Farmers perceived to be intransigent or uncooperative bore the brunt of the invasions and the farms we appropriated to
individuals exclusively loyal to the ruling party. Hence the fast track programme had nothing to do with agrarian reform but was
a mere political exercise designed to achieve a political agenda. The fast track exercise was configured as a:
vindictive partisan act of disenfranchising white farmers
tool to undermine the power base of the opposition
vehicle for the new black bourgeois to replace the white farmers with the ruling party elite.
The fast track exercise is a political survival strategy characterised by a well organised pattern of land invasions and land
allocations. Farm invasions become the preferred tool for a series of political purges that culminated with the evictions of
commercial farmers. This tactic was employed in order to coerce the farmers and their farm workers to support the ruling party.
Farmers perceived to be intransigent or uncooperative bore the brunt of the invasions and the farms we appropriated to
individuals exclusively loyal to the ruling party. Hence the fast track programme had nothing to do with agrarian reform but was
a mere political exercise designed to achieve a political agenda. The fast track exercise was configured as a:
vindictive partisan act of disenfranchising white farmers
tool to undermine the power base of the opposition
vehicle for the new black bourgeois to replace the white farmers with the ruling party elite.
The Rule of Law
An Independent Judiciary is essential for any agrarian reform programme to work.
An Independent Judiciary is essential for any agrarian reform programme to work.
The fast track programme has been fuelled by populist appeals that encouraged ruling party supporters to indulge in violence.
Under the guise of anti-colonial rhetoric, the programme descended into flagrant land-grabbing and outright theft by political
elites and their supporters. The law has been ignored or selectively applied. The police have failed to act against lawlessness or
protect victims of violence. They, the army, and even judges, have themselves acted unlawfully by taking possession of farms,
equipment and property to which they have no right. This impunity has been buttressed by a series of laws and edicts of dubious
constitutionality to dispossess farmers and farm workers of their livelihoods without compensation.
Under the guise of anti-colonial rhetoric, the programme descended into flagrant land-grabbing and outright theft by political
elites and their supporters. The law has been ignored or selectively applied. The police have failed to act against lawlessness or
protect victims of violence. They, the army, and even judges, have themselves acted unlawfully by taking possession of farms,
equipment and property to which they have no right. This impunity has been buttressed by a series of laws and edicts of dubious
constitutionality to dispossess farmers and farm workers of their livelihoods without compensation.
| An Independent Agrarian Reform Watchdog |
| Equitable Redistribution of Land to all Zimbabweans |
| © 2008 OneManOneFarm.org - the agrarian reform advocacy watchdog 1515 North Town East Boulevard, Suite 138-119,Mesquite TX 75150 | Email:info@onemanonefarm.org |
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