WE fully support the Government’s intention to limit foreign ownership of large chunks of land in Zambia.
The move was announced in Parliament on Thursday last week by Lands Minister Jean Kapata. The minister also made it clear that the National Land Policy was being reviewed to ensure effective land management.
Ms Kapata, who was giving a vote-of-thanks to President Edgar Lungu’s speech on the official opening of the second session of the 12th National Assembly, said the policy was due to be finalised in December this year.
Land has not only been a hot issue in Zambia, but it has been a source of political conflict in black Africa’s history generally, and dates back to the colonial days.
In the 1900, European countries that divided Africa and bequeathed the countries of this content to themselves began to introduce changes to their colonial rule. Historians say this was in an effort to increase revenues from the colonies.
These changes included taking land from indigenous Africans and giving it to the growing number of Europeans who had settled in the colonies.
The other notable changes were the introduction of taxes such as the hut and poll taxes, which effectively forced Africans to work for European settlers, including on their farms.
Africans were forced to work for Europeans in order to pay these taxes. This was because the new taxes had to be paid in cash, not in kind in form of cattle or crops, for instance, as was the practice before.
This, however, led to massive exploitation of African labourers by their European employers and, consequently, adding to the growing resentment among the local black people.
In colonies with a growing number of settlers, the demand for more land and labour increased tensions between the colonial authorities and the white communities that had settled in these colonies.
More land had, therefore, to be forcefully taken from the African people and given to the Europeans for settlement.
This signalled the genesis of resistance movements in early stages since, in response to these developments, some chiefs started organising rebellions against colonial authorities.
The resistance was soon ‘taken over’ by a crop of Africans that were educated mainly at missionary schools, majority of whom were residing in towns.
To do this, these educated Africans at first formed parties with a view to lobby their respective colonial governments to recognise the civil rights of Africans and to protect and recognise the land rights of Africans in rural areas.
The formation of political parties later reflected changes in African nationalism, as they turned into mass movements demanding for the liberation of their mother land.
Land reforms that were introduced in independent Zimbabwe, for instance, were meant to take land from white settlers and give it back to black Zimbabweans.
In countries that won independence later such as Namibia, no foreign national, be it white or black can be given land unless the developer enters into partnership with an indigenous black Namibian.
In Zambia, meanwhile, all land is vested in the President, according to the Lands Act Chapter 184 of the Laws of Zambia, for and on behalf of the Zambian people, and can only be alienated by him to any Zambian.
Of course non-Zambians are also catered for, but only where this involves an investor under the Investment Act or any other law relating to the promotion of investment in Zambia under Cap 385, and this has to obtain the President’s consent in his writing.
Except for certain cases where customary land is given out to Zambians, all land in Zambia is legally administered and controlled by the President for the use or common benefit – direct or indirect – of the people of Zambia.
However, such legal provisions don’t seem to be followed, or enforced, because any one has now become a land administrator, selling any piece of land that comes their way, no matter how large that land is.
This in many cases has pushed up the cost of even the smallest pieces of land which are sold to foreigners, who can afford, at exorbitant prices.
May the proposed land policy be implemented soon before the land conflict involving Zambians and foreigners is revisited and, as Ms Kapata rightly says, the interests of poor citizens who reside on, and depend on customary land for a living are protected.