Former commercial farmer Ben Freeth said recent comments by the party’s spokesman Douglas Mwonzora, about the land clauses in the draft charter, are a reason to worry.
Mwonzora told SW Radio Africa’s Question Time programme on Wednesday that there was no reason to be concerned about the land clauses, which appear to legalise the state theft of land. He was responding to questions sent in by Freeth about section 4.29 of the draft, with Freeth raising concern that the section does not protect the rights of farmers and farm workers and allows theft to take place.
Mwonzora responded by insisting that section 4.29 “provides for acquisition of land, land that has been acquired and it says in respect of land that has been acquired, then compensation shall be for improvement only if it is land taken for redress of colonial imbalances. This is land that has already been acquired, not land subject to being acquired. This is land already acquired. So section 4.29 deals with acquisitions that have already happened.”
He also insisted that the discrimination clause, controversially written into the draft, was only based on these previously acquired properties that were seized “to redress colonial imbalances.” He said that this does not apply to the present situation where the property rights of all Zimbabweans are ‘secure’.
But, as Freeth pointed out, the actual text of the draft tells a very different story to what Mwonzora has been insisting. Section 4.29 of the draft document clearly enshrines the right of the state to seize land, while also guaranteeing land invaders the right to the properties they seize.
The draft states that all agricultural land, including forestry land, conservation land and horticultural land, among others, “may be acquired by the State by notice published in the Gazette…whereupon the land vests in the State with full title.” The draft clearly says that these future takeovers, when done for “public purpose” will be done without compensation and compensation issues cannot be challenged in the courts. The draft also stipulates that legal challenges to the future state takeover of land may not be on the ground that it was “discriminatory.”
Freeth told SW Radio Africa that 4.29 is clearly not limited to the past acquisitions of land and clearly provides for the future and legal takeover of land by the state.
“I am frankly very confused by Douglas’s response. He is being very misleading and you have to ask what the agenda is here?” Ben said.
Mwonzora was not available for comment on Thursday but he will be returning as a guest on Question Time next week. SW Radio Africa
Post published in: News
There is not even one democratic change that this new constitution is going to bring. Of course, after four years in this GNU and nothing to show for it MDC is no choice but “mislead” Zimbabweans into believing the new constitution is going to change everything.
Anyone who has read the new constitution properly will tell you nothing will change. Zimbabweans should seriously seat down and read this new constitution and let themselves be led like sheep to the slaughter!