HARARE – Village heads or traditional leaders found selling or facilitating the sale of State land will be considered land barons and will face arrest, a Cabinet Minister has warned, urging anyone with concrete evidence to come forward.
The announcement follows revelations that village heads, particularly in peri-urban areas such as Domboshawa, Seke, Nyabira, Rusape, and Chesa Farm, have settled over 10 000 people through an illicit syndicate.
The syndicate reportedly involves ordinary villagers selling their land and sharing the profits with the village head, who admits home seekers into the village, forges documents, and facilitates their authentication up to the chief, who reportedly also receives a share of the spoils.
Standing in for Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe during a question and answer session in the National Assembly last week, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Professor Amon Murwira, said: “If there are village heads selling land, we call them land barons.
“It is illegal, with regard to law; they are supposed to be arrested. That is Government policy or that is the law. If there is anyone with concrete evidence like what the Honourable Member alluded to, these people must be arrested, that is Government policy.”
Prof Murwira was responding to the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Albert Nyakuedzwa, who wanted to know Government’s policy on village heads selling land in peri-urban areas, claiming that they had settled over 10 000 people.
In a supplementary question, another Member of Parliament alleged that some Government workers responsible for overseeing the issue of village heads parcelling out land were aware of the illegal settlements, but failed to prevent them.
However, Prof Murwira said if Government workers were knowingly allowing such illegality to occur, it should be deemed corruption.
“The issue that he is raising is that there are people that work for the Government and local authorities who may know what is happening and all that.
“That is what we call corruption, and that is why we have laws that deal with corruption, which must prosecute those people who commit corruption. The question again is, is there such law? The law is there.
“Firstly, they are not supposed to sell land illegally. If they do that, they will be prosecuted. Secondly, people who see people selling land illegally and just keep quiet are also involved in corruption; they will also be arrested. Corruption is illegal; selling land is illegal,” he said.
National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Zhemu Soda said traditional leaders have no authority to parcel out State land.
“The Constitution says on availability of resources, Government is supposed to do that work. So, if the resources are limited, that is when you discover that there will be slow progress and all those people expected to get accommodation and stands may not get them timeously,” he said.
He warned those illegally parcelling out land of long jail sentences.
“Land barons will not be asked to make any contribution except that they will be directed to go to prisons,” said Minister Soda. – Herald
