Under the country’s laws, farmers are supposed to pay annual or monthly land tax to the local council and the state.
John Ncube, the chief executive officer of Bulilima Rural District Council, said the resettled farmers owe the council close to $1million in unpaid land tax and lease rentals and continue to defy the council’s calls for them to pay up.
“We are not deterred or intimidated and we will use all the avenues available to make sure that we recover the monies owed. Without this, the Bulilima RDC will fail to deliver. We need this money to keep our operations running,” Ncube said.
Ministers and other top government officials who grabbed farms during the land “reform” programme are reportedly also not paying National Social Security Authority pension contributions.
The controversial, often violent, programme, during which the Zanu (PF) government haphazardly distributed land to the incapacitated peasant farmers without providing the necessary resources to kick start them into farming, led to a dramatic collapse of the agricultural sector, spawning serious food shortages and job losses among hundreds of thousands of farm workers and in downstream industries.
Commercial banks are reluctant to extend loans to new farmers without the security of title deeds or a proven track record as farmers. As a result, most farmers say although they are proud land owners this does not translate into tangible benefits as the land lies idle.
Post published in: News