The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
LOCAL authorities have been challenged to ensure that development control laws are followed to tackle the rampant illegal land sales and occupations witnessed throughout the country.
Following the recent up-tick in illegal settlements on agricultural land and pastures across rural and urban areas, the Government under the leadership of President Mnangagwa continues to condemn the parcelling, sale and occupation of state land without lawful authority.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers) Knowledge Centre Land Matters Indaba in Bulawayo on Thursday, Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities Permanent Secretary Engineer Theodius Chinyanga said illegal settlements should be demolished.
“As local authorities, we are saying to you, please ensure that development control laws are followed, let’s demolish illegal settlements. The Regional, Town and Country Planning Act [Chapter 29:12] (RTCP Act) Part V on Control of Development, in section 25, provides for development orders, in Section 32 of the Act, there are provisions on Enforcement Orders.
“The provisions and subsequent provisions of enforcement orders enable a local authority to prohibit illegal developments and demolish any developments made illegally on land and buildings,” he said.
He said all sections quoted from the RTCP Act do not have provisions punitive enough to deter the development of illegal settlements and perpetrators of such illegal developments.
However, the Permanent Secretary said they give leeway for both, the local planning authorities, and the Minister responsible for Local Government, to pursue enforcement orders to prohibit illegal development and enforce such illegal developments.
“Provisions are also available to produce regulations to incorporate punitive penalties to deter offenders and would be offenders of RTCP Act provisions.”
Eng Chinyanga said the Government had also stepped up efforts to tackle land barons, with the Zimbabwe National Human Settlements policy providing for several policy measures to curb land barons.
He said these include the abolition of parallel development policy which has a thrust on forward planning of settlements, while the Call to Action launched by President Mnangagwa for all local authorities requires them to produce masterplans by June 2024.
The Permanent Secretary said there was a moratorium on all allocation on un-serviced stands as well as suspension of allocation of land for housing development to cooperatives.
”We are also promoting densification and vertical development to curb urban sprawl as well as security of tenure by issuance of title deeds to beneficiaries. This has been seen in the Presidential Title deeds programme under the Kwangu/Ngakwami Trust which was established to spearhead the process,” he added.
He said there was also the promotion of private sector participation in housing delivery as well as awareness campaigns to the public on recommended land acquisition processes and procedures to avoid the public from being duped by land barons.
Eng Chinyanga said the Government was capacitating relevant authorities in the prosecution of land barons.
“For arrests to be more effective and efficient, those duped must report to the law enforcement agents and produce evidence of the payments they would have made. Without adequate evidence, prosecution is delayed, therefore, justice is equally delayed. We are also witnessing efforts to regularise and sanitise dysfunctional settlements by a whole of government approach.
Dubbed Land Matters: “Empowering Communities through Legal Awareness, the conference was held under the theme “Raising awareness of the legal procedures for acquiring land in Zimbabwe”.
