The answer is Yes and No. It depends on the size of the farm.
Mines Deputy Minister Polite Kambamura said the current law says that when the farm is less than 100 hectares, no one can peg on that farm without getting consent from the owner.
When the farm is bigger than 100 hectares, the miner or the prospective miner can notify the owner of the farm of his intention to peg but does not require to get consent from him as long as he is pegging on an area that is not on cultivated land.
Kambamura said this in the Senate yesterday. Here is the full question and answer.
HON. SEN. M. NDLOVU: Thank you President of the Senate. My question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Mines. What is the Government’s policy, for example, I am a farmer and I have a farm and just from nowhere in the morning, you find someone has already dug in that farm where you are supposed to do your farming. What is the Government’s position on such people who just come and dig in people’s farms to solicit minerals?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. KAMBUMURA): Thank you Mr. President. I did not get the question clearly.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: She is saying, what is Government policy on the situation whereby somebody has got a farm and another person comes and pegs in my farm and they start mining without any consultation?
HON. KAMBUMURA: Thank you Mr. President. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the question. Currently, we are receiving a lot of disputed cases with regard to the issue that has been raised.
According to the current law, when the farm is less than 100 hectares, no one can peg in that farm without getting consent from the owner. When the farm is bigger than 100 hectares, the miner or the prospective miner can notify the owner of the farm of his intention to peg but does not require to get consent from him as long as he is pegging on an area that is not on cultivated land.
We have addressed those issues in the current Bill that was gazetted. We have made some public consultations and we heard some input from the people. We have also consulted the Ministry of Agriculture and they have made some inputs to the Bill. Those issues are going to be addressed by the coming Bill.
I think it will be too early to preempt the content of the Bill at the moment because there are still some consultations that are ongoing.
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