Reprieve for illegal settlers?

16 Sep, 2016 - 00:09 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Samuel Kadungure : Farming Reporter

GOVERNMENT has served 3 060 illegal settlers in Manicaland with eviction notices, but the process might take long to implement as the responsible ministry has to identify alternative land to resettle them as most of them have been in those areas for over three years.

Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement had set September 6, 2016 as deadline for all squatters to vacate plots occupied illegally.

However, sources privy to the development told The Manica Post on Wednesday that Government wants the ministry to follow the law and first identify land to resettle the affected families.

Most of those targeted for eviction occupied the contentious plots way back in 2004.

The teams from Ministry of Lands issued eviction orders to squatters illegally settled in vleis, waterways, mountains, plantations and pastures.

Traditional leaders, councillors and village committees have been accused of abusing the ministry’s name by illegally allocating land and asking people to pay for it.

The Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, has warned people against paying for any land allocations, following reports that about 240 land-hungry people, including those in the Diaspora, were duped an estimated $200 000, by a former councillor in Makoni.

Investigations by The Manica Post revealed that 641illegal settlers in Mutare District were issued with eviction orders.

This compelled illegal settlers at Arda Transau to approach the courts challenging the move.

The illegal settlers, who were allegedly resettled by a local traditional leader, argued that Government should offer them alternative land to move to.

About 241 people were served with eviction notices in Makoni, while 654 illegal settlers were served in Mutasa and 620 in Chimanimani.

In Chimanimani, some people illegally settled themselves on timber plantations leading to massive environmental degradation due to wanton destruction of trees on nearly 5 000 hectares.

In Nyanga and Chipinge, 160 and 745 people were served with eviction notices, respectively.

Some of the squatters had started moving out, while some stayed put arguing that they had nowhere to go.

“The Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement has so far served 3 061 illegal settlers in six districts with notices of eviction. No-one was served in Buhera.

The challenge faced by Government is of identifying land to allocate to those people because they have been on that land for more than three years.

“This is the reason why you find some of the targeted illegal settlers at Arda Transau have lodged a constitutional application challenging the move,” said a source.

One avenue through which Government can identify land is by downsizing the sizes of unproductive farms in the province.

Ministry on Lands and Rural Resettlement has completed inspections of farms exceeding maximum farm sizes in Manicaland and recommendations to slash their sizes await ministerial approval.

Four farms were identified in Chipinge District, 13 in Makoni, two in Nyanga and six in Mutare and recommendations for their reduction have since been forwarded to Dr Mombeshora for approval.

Dr Mombeshora said Government would reduce the sizes of under-utilised farms to cater for the growing number of people in need of land.

Some of the farms in Manicaland are as big as 3 000 hectares, against the dictates of Statutory 288 of 2000 which prescribes the maximum farm sizes across the country’s five ecological regions.

Maximum farm size in Natural Region One which is largely concentrated in Chimanimani, Nyanga, Mutare, Mutasa and Chipinge is pegged at 250ha, with the exemption of timber plantations.

In Region Two which include parts of Mutare, Makoni and Mutasa districts, the maximum farm size was set at 400ha.

The farm size ceiling in Region Three which encompasses parts of Makoni, Mutasa and Mutare districts has been pegged at 500ha.

In zones four and five which largely encompass parts of Nyanga North, Chipangayi, Chisumbanje, Makoni South and Chipinge — the maximum farm sizes were pegged at 1 000ha and 2 000ha, respectively.

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