Achim Blume (1996): Land Tenure in Rural Zimbabwe

Appendix 3.2: Terms of Reference

The specific Terms of Reference of the Commission are as follows:

1. to consider the appropriateness or otherwise of each of the land tenure systems, i.e., communal, resettlement permit, leasehold and freehold title in relation to sustainable resource management, farm productivity and investment;
2. to consider experiences from the existing land tenure systems as well as from the experiences of other countries, and recommend the most suitable land tenure system that is feasible for each farming sector;
3. to examine the present inheritance system in each of the subsectors of agriculture and on the basis of the proposed system of land tenure, recommend appropriate inheritance procedures to be followed;
4. to assess the extent of the problems of sub-division of plots into uneconomic units and the ownership of different parcels of land in Communal Areas, determine what impact this has on agricultural production and recommend appropriate measures to alleviate the problem;
5. In relation to the exercise of the Replanning and Re-organisation of Communal Areas to recommend appropriate farm sizes per household according to the recommended farming system for agro-ecological regions;
6. to consider what land rights, if any, people in full-time employment in industrial, mining and urban areas should have in communal areas.
7. to recommend appropriate institutional arrangements for the administration of each of the proposed land tenure systems for each of the farming sectors taking into account existing legislative arrangements and
8. to consider the need or otherwise of new legislative measures to bring the recommended land tenure systems into effect.