via Government to impose farm rent – DailyNews Live 21 August 2014 by Lloyd Mbiba
HARARE – Ressetled farmers will soon pay rentals on their properties in a move government hopes will spur them to fully utilise their land, a Cabinet minister has said.
Lands and Rural Settlement minister Douglas Mombeshora told the Daily News in a telephone interview yesterday that he was working closely with Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo over the farm charges.
“It is work in progress, we are working on the figures,” Mombeshora said.
“Once we have the figures, we will tell you. But just today we had a meeting with the Local Government (ministry) officials over the matter. So any time soon, we will invite you over to reveal the figures.
“We are not proposing any levies but we are proposing rentals. If you don’t want to pay the rent, you simply leave the farm.”
There is an estimated 300 000 resettled farmers on land seized from former white farmers under government’s agrarian revolution, according to official figures.
Meanwhile, a land audit has been stymied by a shortage of funds, an angry reaction from President Robert Mugabe’s allies and more attacks on white farmers.
The audit is expected to reveal multiple farm owners, 14 years after Mugabe’s government embarked on its programme to hand over mainly white-owned land to black people.
But the scheme has been widely blamed for destroying Zimbabwe’s agriculture-based economy and turning the country into a net importer of food.
Mombeshora said he was looking for money to carry out the land audit.
“We are still looking for the money to carry out the land audit and once we get it we will embark on the exercise,” he said.
Turning to the new land permits that will be issued to resettled farmers, Mombeshora said his ministry was training district land officers who are going to distribute the permits.
After that, the land district officers will visit the farms and if everything is above board, a land permit will be issued out.
COMMENTS
OH DEAR!!! THERE’S ALWAYS A DOWNSIDE!
Deja vu – sounds a lot like a hut tax
So the government is saying that the farmers do not have tenure, and the land is not their asset. Therefore they will not be able to access capital to operate their businesses, which means that they will not be able to pay their rent.
Funny how one stupid ZANU idea cascades and has all sorts of disastrous consequences for the people.
What a crackpot idea…where is the rental income being generated? from subsistence agriculture?
Is Chombo going to pay rentals for the multiple farms he acquired! !!!!!!
This is a good question Ike, but if u are a Zimbo or if you ever stayed in Zim at anytime since ZANU PF got into power (i.e. since 1980) I’m sure you are well aware that Zanu PF elite is excepted from anything payable to anyone in the country. And this reality includes individuals, companies and the country itself. The reason they always declare is that they died for the country (Zim), hence they own it inclusively – i.e. including everything in it (even yourself if you happen to stay there.
They don’t pay any tax; don’pay bank loans (remember how one Roger Boka’s Bank collapsed after lent out large sums of money to these top Zanu Pf guyz who openly told him to go hang; even his direct appeals to Gushungo himself could not serve his empire); don’t pay electricity and water bills; they don’t pay duty for imported luxuries; you name. Even the 1st family falls in the same category.
Some of us who are informed still remember how the late father Zim JM Nkomo himself, a few yrs before his death, wrote a letter wrote a letter to one Gershon Pasi, instructing ‘the young man’ to leave his companies alone. He declare ‘I don’t owe this country anything if, if anything the country owes me.’
This was when the taxman was chasing a number, if not all, of his for not paying tax; were said to be owing millions of dollars. And for your information all Gershon Pasi could do was to hand the letter to Gushungo, whom I suspect equally reprimanded the ‘young man’ forever expecting ‘big man’ to pay for anything in a country which they died for.
Sadly that’s the norm in Zim. Chombos, Gushungos and a few others belong to the ever privileged group; and have to leave in Zim at no cost. If anything the country is there to provide for them, not the other way round.
the rent is a good idea but most people will not pay… no munnnnn. absentee landlords not a good idea. Asking for rent will motivate farmers to farm
Bloody lovely! So instead of waiting for the land audit to identify the number of farms are occupied and by whom – ask the white farmers to put in writing the name of the “person” who grabbed their farm. Then good luck trying to get the “rent” off them!
It’s a realisation that toll gates can’t sustain their greed. They need more . So they will squeeze anything with a heart beat from the vendor to the so called farmer.
Of course the real reason for not carrying out the land audit is not funds. They know fully well that an audit (if done properly) will reveal who exactly own the land. i.e THEMSELVES.
These people hope that by postponing the audit for as long as possible the people will never know who owns multiple farms. The same people are the ones who do not pay at tollgates, they do not pay taxes and they will not be paying any of the proposed rentals.
The PHOVO will pay ….then vote for the return of this same lot to subjugate them..
nyika yenyu yamaichemera chauya chauya
Yet another zpf looting scam
Let us see the ZANU’s paying first
I have a suggestion. Why doesn’t the government charge a premium fee to those who own more than one farm. Each extra farm they could impose an annual fee of USD 50,000 each.
If this is to be a “rent”, then nobody owns a farm. The State owns all the land.
It is much the same arrangement as in England in the 12th century.
zanu do not pay , just steal.
Yeah right we can all just imagine Bob and Disgrace paying rent!
Its a time bomb. Holding land for no know reasons
what money fr land audit? you already know among yourselves who owns which farm. You dont need money for that!
Anything to do with Chombo will not work.
WELL GUYS THEY HAVE TO PAY GOVERNMENT SALARIES SOMEHOW, AND THE TOLL GATES ISN’T ENOUGH!
Oh ZANU, ZANU…scratching now like chickens seeking something under their feet. Thieves running out of money are they, poor dears.
Zvikufaya. This was way overdue given the resounding success of the land distribution.
IN FRANCE IN 1789 THEY WERE CALLED THE CAHIERS AND LED TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION….AND IN RHODESIA IT WAS THE HUT TAX AND LED TO WAR……WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE…….WE MUST HAVE LAND OWNERSHIP….NOT RENT. IN OUR TRADITIONAL LAND TENURE THERE IS NO RENT…NOR WAS THERE EVER THAT INTENTION…..WHO IS THE LANDLORD IN THIS CASE!!!! CHENJERA MBAVHA!!!
Almost everyone needs a farm.since they grabed the land it means they do not own it just like every one else.so pay rent or leave.only the capable can use the farm for the benefit of the economy.