Zimbabweans should be free to stay wherever they want-“this is our country”

Full contribution:

*HON. ZEMURA: Thank you Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution on this Land Commission Bill.  My observation is that when this is put into place, a lot of maladministration is going to be rectified because the land distribution had some problems.  We know that land should be distributed on an equitable system so that everybody benefits.  We plead with the Land Commission not to take away land distributed to other people.  We are aware of the fact that when the land distribution programme was implemented, we had some people who were criticizing the exercise saying this is just a joke, it is a political gimmick and this will be reversed.

Therefore, people allocated land should benefit and be empowered to use the land.  They should not be deprived of their land because we have had some late comers who used to say this is a political gimmick.  We have had the situation where people are now being allocated land in pasture lands or other administrative lands for schools and clinics.  Those people who were criticizing even went to the extent of advising others to refrain taking the land.

Now, that we are embarking on Command Agriculture, these people want to get land and yet they were saying it was a political gimmick.  I plead with the Land Commission that they should not deprive people who were the forerunners, who heeded the call of the land distribution and were allocated land.  We know that Government was saying land should be given to anybody and that is why we have some people who moved into other areas like in Chipinge.  The people in those areas were saying we are not going to take up land because it is a political gimmick.  I am advising this Commission that it should not be reversed the people who benefited from the land to give into account that these people should be given because it is their area and yet when it was being allocated they were only lying looking and being spectators. We have some people who are saying we have double allocations because land has been given to political leadership. As far as I am concerned, this is just a smear campaign. When this land was being allocated in early 2000, I advised my grown up children to go and apply for land and my children listened to me and they applied and they are beneficiaries   of the land distribution exercise because it was being given and allocated to beneficiaries who were 18 years and above.

Therefore, we do not have to go on a smear campaign saying there was an anomaly in the allocation of land. I am saying whosoever wanted land, these people benefited because they had shown that they wanted the land. Like I have said, there are some people who were saying this is a political gimmick and therefore land should be grabbed from them and be given to slow starters who were blaming this land distribution programme. I will repeat, those who were 18 years or above and applied for land benefited.  I am saying this Land Commission Bill should work on other problems which we faced in the land allocation. They should not deprive anybody who benefited because they were 18 years old and above, but if they find that land was allocated to somebody who was 5 years old by that time, it means there was some problem there.

If we have people of the Zemura family who applied regardless of how many they were and benefited, they should keep their land. We have some Members of Parliament who have said we have some people of the extended families who benefited. I am saying there was nothing wrong with that because they benefited because they applied and got the land because we have a saying that the early bird catches the fattest worm. Some people are saying people were moved from Matabeleland to Mashonaland and some from Mashonaland to the Ndau land. I am saying there is nothing wrong with that. Zimbabwe is one and you can stay wherever you want because this is our country. I thank you.

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