By Loyd Matare
Residents who continue to buy land from headmen in informal “Sabhuku deals” are playing with fire, Minister of Local Government Daniel Garwe says, as he urged Zimbabweans to stop engaging in illegal land transactions that have long fuelled land fraud and chaotic settlement patterns.
This comes as Sabhuku deals have become rampant in peri-urban areas and in the rural areas where illegal settlers are buying land from self-styled “land barons” and headmen without proper documentation.
Addressing the press in Harare, Garwe said the government has repeatedly cautioned the public against buying land from individuals who do not own it, yet many people still fall prey to unscrupulous sellers.
“…we have been on record for long as the government says to people not to buy land from people who do not own it because you will not have tittle deeds of that land because it’s illegal…but humans as they are they want to ignore the law.
“People deliberately want to misunderstand the point on regularisation…it doesn’t mean that if we agree (that people should have land) then you go and grab a piece of land then government will come and regularise that, no we don’t do that.
ALSO READ: Magaya Set to Appear in Court Today
“There are specific areas that the government will ensure regularisation policy is applied and only on a beneficiary pays principle,” he said.
He warned that duped buyers often expect the government to sue land barons on their behalf, but said that cannot happen because the state is not the complainant.
“…The people that are buying land from these land barons and get duped in the process do not want to report to the police.
“They want the government to come and say, ‘Mr Land Baron, we are going to go to court,’ and we lose the case because the government are not the complainant,” Garwe said.
“We can only facilitate the process if complainants go and report, and I think we have been on record as the government saying to people, don’t buy land from people that do not own it.”
