Commission wades through land and boundary disputes

The Zimbabwe Lands Commission (ZLC) says it is handling more than 1 000 disputes involving farm allocations and boundaries. It admits that the fast-track land reform programme has created headaches for the government. The statutory body established under Section 296 of the Constitution was mandated to regularise the settlement of beneficiaries on farms repossessed during the agrarian reforms which began in 2000. ‘The commission has an oversight role on the administration of agricultural land vested in the state and to regularise the fast-track land reform programme which resettled plus, minus 300 000 farmers in a period of five years,’ said ZLC commissioner Tendai Ruth Bare. New Zimbabwe reports that Bare said the ZLC is currently ‘seized’ with resolving in excess of 1 000 land disputes. ‘Most of the disputes are over farm boundaries, acquisitions, double allocations, offer letter withdrawals, inheritance, and divorce cases with a bearing over land rights,’ she added.

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