ZIMBABWE - Destruction of wildlife, the environment and sensitive eco-systems

THE PRESIDENTIAL DECREE

The following is an excerpt from a paper distributed by the Commercial Farmers Union in Zimbabwe, explaining the implications of this latest 'law'. It applies to the conservancies as much as it does to the commercial farms as a number of members within the conservancies have been issued with Section 5s and Section 8s. This decree now throws Zimbabwe's wildlife and tourist industry into an even deeper crisis:

'The amendment to the Land Acquisition Act, on 9th November 2001, using the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act, sent shock waves throughout the commercial farming community. Against the background of the Abuja Accord and formal acceptance by Government of the Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative (ZJRI), observers to the Zimbabwe crisis are quite simply stunned at the duplicity of this manoeuvre.

The affect of the new legislation is potentially devastating. The amended Section 8 Order confers immediate ownership to the acquiring authority and serves as a ninety-day eviction notice for landowners. The main implication of the amendment is that the fast-track resettlement process can take place prior to any form of confirmation through the courts. Thus landowners can be immediately deprived of their livelihood, long before the matter is considered in the courts.

The penalty for "interference" is severe, including the provision for imprisonment of up to two years:
This legislation is backdated to 23rd May 2000, in an attempt to legitimise all pegging, occupation and interference with farming operations for the entire period of the "fast-track" programme.

This decree, known as SI 338, flies in the face of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and is contrary to the principles of natural justice.

Government has the authority to serve new Section 8 Orders to all landowners with valid Section 5 Notices (my note: This again directly impacts on several members of the conservancies who have Section 5 notices). Taking duplications, repeats and delistings into account, the net number of properties with current section 5 notices is approximately 4 200, equating to 7.8 million hectares in extent. No full analysis has been done on the ownership patterns of these properties, but it is estimated that 85% of CFU members are affected.'

On November 20th 2001 the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Dr. J.M. Made, announced the launch of the 'maximum farm size regulations'. In this he stated that 'approved conservancies' would also be affected by the regulations and would not be allowed to exceed 2,000 hectares. He stated, 'It is Government's desire to have plantation farms, agro industrial properties and approved conservancies sub-divided in such a manner that the beneficiaries will come into the scheme as out-growers to the existing enterprises.'

At this stage no one is at all clear as to the implications of these regulations. Suffice to say the ruling makes no consideration of how much land is needed to sustain wildlife populations. If the ruling means that the conservancies can retain their overall size but that new owners must be brought in, this is equally impractical. Save's conservator has this to say, 'The legislation relating to maximum farm sizes would require that the Conservancy obtains special dispensation as the 2,000 hectares stipulated is in no way sufficient to ensure sustainability. We are now required to give a justifiable explanation of this prior to the 1st of February. Were the maximum farm size to be affected in the Conservancy or any wildlife area, the effect I would guess to be disastrous. It has been a long hard struggle with 20 odd members in the Conservancy and were this to be increased to 170 members each with his own ideals, outlook and so on, that alone would spell disaster.'