LANDS and Rural Resettlement minister Douglas Mombeshora has revealed that the late national hero, Peter Chanetsa was sceptical that newly-resettled farmers would ever have security of tenure of the land they received.
BY NUNURAI JENA
Mombeshora said Chanetsa had confided in him that he was doubtful that the government would make good on its promise to secure the land for the new farmers.
“Chanetsa was sceptical, he asked rhetorically if the government would not repossess farms one day,” the minister revealed.
The government has often been accused of repossessing land from officials who would have fallen out of favour with the ruling Zanu PF.
Mombeshora, the Zanu PF legislator for Mhangura, urged “greedy” Zanu PF fat cats holding on to large swathes of unproductive land to take a cue from the late former Mashonaland West provincial governor, who reportedly offered to have his vast Greensleeves Farm subdivided for his three sons.
Addressing mourners at Chanetsa’s funeral wake in Chinhoyi last week, Mombeshora said beneficiaries of the A2 land reform programme should be willing to have their underutilised farms subdivided to accommodate several other applicants on the waiting list.
“Despite championing the inception of the land grab from white farmers as governor, Chanetsa remained principled and was never a greedy person. He approached me some time back and asked if it was possible to subdivide his farm and allocate some of it to his children,” he said.
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“I told him his children could be given their own land, but he refused and said there was more than enough for them to till at the farm. He applied for subdivision and that process was finalised in 2016. As Zanu PF leaders, let’s emulate Chanetsa and share with our children.”
Chanetsa, who served as independent Zimbabwe’s first chief of protocol, died of cardiac arrest last week and was buried at the National Heroes Acre on Saturday.
He was Mashonaland West governor, when the government launched the chaotic land reform programme in 2000.
