1. Know all men, that, today, land in Zimbabwe can only be acquired for the land reform program, lawfully, after approval by MDC Ministers.3. In other words the MDC Ministers could have been totally ignored and sidelined on this key matter. Why are they being ignored when the law says they should be involved in such decision making ?
4. To make matters worse this happened when the Prime Minister was overseas trying to convince donors to help Zimbabweans who are suffering from a Land Reform Program which was done wrongly.
5. Take note that the purported acquisition of the 9 farms was done by the Minister of Lands, for and on behalf of the state, in terms of Section 16(B)(2)(a)(iii) of constitutional amendment number 17 yet after constitutional amendment number 19 such acquisition of Land requires the full authority of the Inclusive Government.
6. The Minister of Lands can not make such executive decisions alone, especially where constitutional rights of people are affected.
7. In terms of Section 20.1.1 of Schedule 8 of the Constitutional amendment number 19, the executive authority of the Inclusive Government is shared between the President, the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The law says;
The Executive Authority of the Inclusive Government shall vest in, and be shared among the President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, as provided for in this Constitution and legislation.
The President (and also Prime Minister and Cabinet ) of the Republic shall exercise authority subject to the Constitution and the law.
The Cabinet shall take decisions by consensus, and take collective responsibility for all Cabinet decisions, including those originally initiated individually by any member of Cabinet.
8. Furthermore in terms of Section 20.1.2 (f) of schedule 8 of Constitutional Amendment number 19, the cabinet is required to make its decisions by consensus of all ministers, meaning the Minister of Lands should have obtained approval from all cabinet Ministers, including MDC ministers, before acquiring the above farms.
9. While the Minister of Lands, Dr H Murerwa, comes across as a rationale and moderate man , who may have been misled by wrong legal advice, he should prove to the public that there was such cabinet approval. If there was no such cabinet approval, the mentioned farm acquisitions are null and void. The Minister of Lands should either request cabinet to ratify his recent land acquisitions or reverse them, failure of which he may be risking personal liability for acting outside the law.
10. In other words the era of ZANU PF type of land reform is over. Any further land reform now requires agreement of the MDC. Zimbabweans know what they voted for.
11. Lastly section 16A (1) ( c) of Constitutional amendment 16 says, the people of Zimbabwe must be enabled to reassert their rights and regain ownership of land.
This Section is vague and abused, as it does not state clearly which people are being referred to, because some black people had their farms taken away by Government without compensation at all, yet they never colonized anyone!
Should our Land Reform Program be done
(i) to promote tribalism, reverse racism, regionalism, factionalism, corruption
and a political patronage system, or
(ii) to address poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development ?
12. These questions need to be answered by the Inclusive Government and a policy set, before any more land is taken.
13. In any case, why are more farms being acquired before a land audit which parties agreed to in a global political agreement, has been done?
14. It is the hope of Zimbabweans that there is an improvement in the land reform program, rule of law, justice, economic progress. We need a land reform that is genuine, orderly, lawful, equitable and viable.
Inserted In Public Interest by.
YOUTH IN POLITICS
Post published in: News