Locals not fully protected by land laws - ZLA
By Fridah Nkonde
Tue 29 Oct. 2013, 14:00 CAT
ZAMBIA Land Alliance executive director Henry Machina says it is clear that local people are not fully protected by the Zambia's land laws.
Commenting on church-related organisations operating in SADC who last week criticised African governments for betraying people by allowing massive land grabbing by foreign multinationals, Machina said the alliance was carrying out research in Zambia to get evidence on what was on the ground.
"We know that there are a lot people talking about this issue. It is not easy to know how many have been affected but we are researching and we will soon share our findings with the public. We have been to the North-Western Province…people are being affected," Machina said.
He said Zambia Land Alliance wanted to see policy changes in land matters.
Machina said in Zambia, land grabbing by multinational companies was rampant because it involved large pieces of land being given to the investors.
"We have Kalumbila Mine, Lumwana which are still expanding and where will our local people go? All these areas, people are being affected. So for us as Zambia Land Alliance, we need to see how people are being affected. There is need to see the gaps in our laws. Once companies negotiate and buy the land, people are just told to leave without having a clue as to where they will go to and don't even know how much they are supposed to be given as compensation. They are given a small house, small field and other things," he said.
Machina said local people valued their land more than money, adding that there was emotional attachment to the land that they had occupied for a long time.
"When land is given to foreigners, local people suffer because they are taken somewhere else where they are supposed to cover long distances for them to go to school, clinic…sometimes, they even decide to migrate to urban areas where they even become more poor," he said.
Machina said the absence of the land policy had greatly affected Zambia.
Church leaders and activists from Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - who met in Durban recently - singled out national elites and African governments as the major actors in land grabbing.
Labels: HENRY MACHINA, ZAMBIA LAND ALLIANCE, ZLA
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ZLA urges re-initiation of land policy consultation
By Namatama Mundia
Mon 26 Apr. 2010, 03:40 CAT
THE Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) has called on government to re-initiate the land policy consultation process.
In an interview, ZLA executive director Henry Machina urged the government to consult those stakeholders who were not fully consulted such as traditional leaders on how land should be administered.
“We cannot continue to administer land in this manner because land is a fundamental resource for all Zambians,” he said.
Machina said people in some parts of the country have continued losing land because of lack of a land policy document which should give direction.
“In settlement schemes such as Kanakantapa in Lusaka, a lot of people have struggled for decades to get title but all in vain. In some parts of the country people are being displaced from their land and therefore losing their land rights and sources of livelihood,” he said.
Machina said his organisation would like to see a pro-poor land policy formulated to manage land in the country.
“We cannot continue managing land in the way it is being done. There is so much bureaucracy in land administration and a lot of poor people are facing problems processing their applications for title,” said Machina.
Labels: HENRY MACHINA, LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, ZLA
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ZLA urges protection of customary land
By Florence Bupe
Wed 17 Feb. 2010, 04:00 CAT
THE Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) has called for the protection of customary land tenure in the Republican constitution. Appearing before the parliamentary committee on land and agriculture, ZLA executive director Henry Machina said it would be a mistake for policy makers to do away with customary land tenure laws as most poor Zambians cannot afford to own land under statutory law.
Machina said it was prudent for the country to maintain the current dual tenure system as a means of according poor communities an opportunity to own land, which he described as a vital component to poverty reduction.
“There is need to maintain the dual tenure system. Abandoning customary land tenure won’t reduce poverty,” Machina said.
“We need to finalise the formulation of the land policy in a way that promotes the participation of the local community.”
Machina also called for the revision of the Lands Act of 1995 to strengthen the requirements under the framework.
He observed that Zambia had various loopholes in the management of land and this had placed the country in a vulnerable position especially at international level.
“The international community has seen a niche in this country and that’s why some of these so- called investors are able to acquire land, speculate and make money out of it,” he said.
He said government and other authorities in the administration of land needed to revisit the issue of selling land that is not developed.
Machina said the country should devise a system that would ensure value addition to land through development.
He also called for a new framework that would make the acquisition of land under the statutory tenure system cheaper for the local community.
This was in response to Matero member of parliament Faustina Sinyangwe’s concern on the low number of Zambians accessing commercial land.
Machina said currently, the cost of land was too high and beyond the reach of many ordinary Zambians.
“The cost of statutory land is very high, and this in itself is a symptom of a major problem,” said
Machina.
Machina further called for the empowerment of women, whom he said had continued to be sidelined in land allocation.
Labels: FAUSTINA SINGYANGWE, HENRY MACHINA, LAND RIGHTS, ZLA
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ZLA urges govt to hold conference on land
By Namatama Mundia
Wed 20 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ZAMBIA Land Alliance (ZLA) executive director Henry Machina has urged the government to hold a national conference on land matters before the land policy is finalised to ensure consensus. In an interview yesterday, Machina said the government should do more consultations before the land policy could be finalised.
“The government should call for a national conference on land policy because the conference will help bring consensus on a lot of issues which are outstanding such as investors, matters to do with the poor and the disabled and protecting the poor people on their land,” he said.
Machina said the government last year did not finish their consultations on the policy.
He said the land Act of 1995 should be reviewed quickly because it did not have a provision for adequate consultation as far as land allocation was concerned.
“People who are being displaced should be protected so this Act should be reviewed quickly,” Machina said.
He noted that there had been a lot of interest in land in the past year because of investors coming to Zambia.
“A lot of people have been displaced from land given to the private investors and some investors have deprived the poor people land which they have had for a long time,” Machina said.
He said traditional leaders should also be involved in land matters to protect their people.
“Traditional leaders are more interested in land, yes they need to be involved in land more particularly in protecting their own people from displacement,” said Machina.
Labels: HENRY MACHINA, LAND RIGHTS, ZLA
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Machina urges govt to review land Act
Written by Margaret Mtonga
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 4:44:19 PM
ZAMBIA Land Alliance (ZLA) executive director Herny Machina has urged government to review the land Act of 1995 to enhance transparency in land acquisition.
In an interview yesterday, Machina accused the current act of promoting corruption in land administration.
“We want the Land Commission to be established so that wide consultation is done in land allocation,” Machina said. “Currently, it is very difficult and expensive for one to acquire land because the system is so centralised in the sense that if one wants to acquire land, they have to come to Lusaka because that’s the headquarters where one can deal with issues of land acquisition,”
He said there was a lot of bureaucracy in land administration in the country and called on the government to revise the land Act of 1995 to reduce chances of corruption.
“There is a lot of corruption in the acquisition of land because of the bureaucracy that is existing at the moment,” Machina said.
He alleged that the government had weak monitoring capacity of land development in the country because most people were acquiring land illegally.
“The government has weak monitoring mechanisms that are supposed to be changed so that they can be able to know that one in a certain area has acquired land unlawfully,” Machina said.
He further advised the government to orient councillors in the country on land administration to reduce incidences of corruption in the processes.
“The government should simplify and give information to councillors on the procedure of how land is acquired,” said Machina.
“I also would like to appeal to the government to harmonise the various institutions that are involved in land acquisition because they end up confusing people at the end of the day as they do not know where to go. There is need for the government to address these challenges as they will enhance transparency and fight the vice of corruption.”
Labels: HENRY MACHINA, LAND REFORM, ZLA
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Machina asks govt to revise draft land policy
By Nomusa Michelo
Sunday October 28, 2007 [03:00]
ZAMBIA Land Alliance (ZLA) executive director Henry Machina has asked the government to revise the draft land policy before it is made into law. In a statement, Machina said the current draft land policy does not reflect inclusiveness.
“We are calling on government to revise and align the draft land policy before it is made into law, conduct a national land audit to determine how much land is left in the country, disseminate the draft land policy in the media and discuss the draft at public meetings,” he said. “In addition, comments on the draft policy from the public must be gathered and a national conference should be held so that all Zambians can have a say in their land policy.”
Machina said the draft land policy's rationale should include guidelines for the good governance of land, socio-economic development for the people of Zambia, resolution of contentious land issues and provisions for justice and security in land.
“There is need for all Zambian men and women to understand and enjoy their rights to land and to fully participate in making decisions on how their land is to be administered,” he said.
Machina said the rationale of the policy had also raised concerns within the ZLA.
“It is implied in the rationale section, that not enough is done to let all citizens be given title to their land, also that switching customary land to leasehold title would reduce poverty," he said. “However, there is no evidence that the drive to ensure that rural citizens get title to their customary holdings will have the desired result of reducing rural poverty."
He said although civil society endorsed the spirit of collaboration and participation proposed for the implementation of the land policy, the policy provides little or no guidelines on how the implementation would actually be done.
“ZLA suggests the creation of a land reform unit to implement and monitor land administration and a national land commission to oversee land allocation and administration," said Machina.
ZLA, is a network of civil society organisations working with rural and urban poor communities to ensure that land laws, policies and land administration procedures take their interests into account.
Labels: HENRY MACHINA, LAND REFORM, ZLA
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