Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE Government has warned traditional leaders and individuals who are parcelling out State land to desperate land seekers in return for kickbacks, saying such behaviour was a criminal offence.
The Government said it will not hesitate to dismiss and prosecute those found on the wrong side of the law. The warning comes at a time when the parcelling out and selling of State land has become rampant countrywide with four village heads from Dema in Mashonaland East Province having been convicted after appearing in court for selling stands in undesignated places and pocketing the proceeds.
To curb the menace, the Government has been carrying out capacity building workshops within the country’s eight rural provinces to conscientise traditional leaders on their role and ensure they do not overstep their mandate. The issue of land distribution in exchange for bribes was one of the major objective of the workshops. The available land is advertised on social media as “Sabhuku deals”. The deals are said to be rampant in most parts of the country, especially in areas near towns and cities.
Responding to questions from Sunday News, Director of Communication and Advocacy in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works Mr Gabriel Masvora confirmed that they were receiving reports where village heads were parcelling out State land and receiving payments. He said their ministry conducted workshops with the aim of curbing the illicit land deals by traditional leaders.
“The sale of State land is illegal. The duties of a village head are clearly spelt out in Section 12 of the Traditional Leaders Act 29:17 and do not include allocation of land. Land is allocated by the rural district council concerned after the submission of names of those who want communal land to council and a resolution is then made. Our ministry carried out capacity building workshops from May 2022 to April 2023 at all the eight rural provinces in every district and the meetings were attended by chiefs, headmen and village heads. Duties of each traditional leader were explained and illegalities spelt out. Chiefs and headmen supervise village heads and where rampant sale of land takes place they are empowered by the law to recommend dismissal,” said Mr Masvora.
He said Section 13 of the Traditional Leaders Act 29:17 spells out the disciplinary action that would be taken in the event of an offence or misconduct by a village head.
“We continue to engage the Council of Chiefs which is an assembly of elected traditional leaders and the provincial assembly chairpersons to continue to raise awareness of the illegality of land sales and the consequences thereof. Several village heads have been convicted of illegal land sales in the country with the recent example of Dema village heads who were convicted on 8 January 2024,” said Mr Masvora.
In an interview, Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs president Chief Mtshane Khumalo said as traditional leaders, they know that State land should not be sold and if ever there were traditional leaders selling State land, the law enforcement agents should arrest them.
“It is known that State land should not be sold, so those engaging in that will be contravening the law and are candidates for prosecution,” he said. -@nyeve14
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