•LAND wrangles have in recent years become so rampant.
By JOWIT SALUSEKI –
ACQUISITION of land in Zambia has always being a thorny issue with some few privileged individuals owning huge chunks of hectares while the less fortunate in the society remain disadvantaged.
Some unscrupulous individuals have even gone to the extent of riding on the back of political parities to invade private land.
Globally , issues pertaining to land have always brought problems with countries such as Israel and Palestine constantly engulfed in war because they cannot agree on who owns which piece of land.
Over the years, stories of land invasion by unscrupulous individuals in some of Africa’s poorest countries have also continued to dominate and grab news headlines.
In Zambia, Republican President Edgar Lungu on May21, 2015, when he swore in Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental protection Permanent Secretary Barnaby Mulenga noted the inequality that exists in land ownership saying it was unfortunate that the acquisition of land in the country had continued to remain the preserve of the elite and those who are well connected.
The President was sad that some people were acquiring land and later reselling it at higher prices subjecting citizens to paying exorbitantly for it.
“Work with the Commissioner of Lands to be, and the Minister of Lands to ensure that Zambians have access to land, at affordable prices and easily available, it should not be the preserve of the elite but for every Zambian,” said the President.
It is against this backdrop that some organisations such as the Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) , a network of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which was formed in 1997 have continued to try and find ways to promote fair land policies , laws and administrative systems which take into account the needs of the poor.
As an organisation, ZLA has identified that large scale land acquisitions in the country pose a serious threat to land tenure security of the poor, particularly those living on customary land; yet there is an inadequate legal frame work in Zambia to protect the interests of those affected.
To this end, the institute developed an initiative entitled ‘’ Evidence –based Advocacy on large scale land acquisitions’’.
In order to achieve the intended objectives of the project, ZLA partnered with the Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies institute (PLAAS) which conducts research , policy engagement , teaching and training about the dynamics of chronic poverty and structural inequality in Southern Africa, with a particular emphasis on the key role of restructuring and contesting land holding and agro-food systems in the subcontinent and beyond.
The organisation is envisioned on the premise in which the rural, peri-urban and urban poor and vulnerable have secured access, ownership and control over land for the sustainable development.
Most marginalised people in the society , therefore see ZLA as a platform for collective action committed to promoting equitable access, control and secured ownership of the land by the rural and per-urban dwellers who have no piece of land they can call their own.
Testament to how ZLA has continued to be the bedrock in helping less privileged societies on land matters is a recent incident where Martha Hantobolo and other land owners of Kafue’s Shantumbu area were on the verge of losing out on their ancestral land because some of the village headmen connived to dubiously sell their farms to a Lusaka based businessmen.
Ms Hantobolo and her colleagues almost lost out on their land had it not been for the intervention of the ZLA an organisation.
The ZLA chairman Eugene Kabilika says the organisation’s core values are anchored on accountability, equity, justice , human dignity and collective participation as poor people’s involvement in governance helps in contributing to improved security of tenure for sustainable development and secure livelihoods by the end of 2017.
‘’ We have priority areas such as land rights and governance, social and economic justice in land and institutional development and networking whose objectives is to strengthen the capacity of ZLA and civil society partners to provide support to poor and vulnerable communities to respond to land governance issues in ZLA operations areas by the end of 2017’’, Mr Kabilika explains.
He adds that so far the organisation was implementing a project dubbed ‘’enhancing sustainable livelihood through land tenure security project’’ which seeks to contribute to sustainable livelihoods among the poor and marganilsed households in Gwembe Kafue and Solwezi through the promotion of enhanced land tenure security.
ZLA is also enhancing agriculture productivity through a supportive land policy project whose goal is to enhance land access and tenure security for women in the targeted communities of Chipata and Chibombo.
Further, ZLA is also implementing a project to strengthen the access, control and security of tenure on the land to the traditional holders, through capacity building, learning, registration and documentation of best practices.
It is only hoped that President Lungu’s recent sentiments that acquisition of land in Zambia should not be a preserve of the elite only will one day become a reality.
Last year, the World Bank documented media reports of shady land deals over the period between 2008 and 2014.
The deals were for nearly 60 million hectares worldwide, roughly the size of a European country like Ukraine – and two-thirds of such acquired land was in Africa.
