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<p><em>Ian Scoones | University of Sussex</em></p>
<p>Agriculture is taking centre stage in plans for the revival of Zimbabwe’s ailing economy under the new leadership of Emmerson Mnangagwa.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-42268 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/tobacco_wikipedia.jpg" alt="Zimbabwe's tobacco revenue up in smoke due to El Nino" width="800" height="490" /></p>
<p>Getting agriculture moving in Zimbabwe is a big task. The radical land reform of 2000 has left many outstanding challenges; not least the importance of compensating former farm owners. But the biggest challenge is that, with new ownership patterns, the agricultural sector has a much more diffuse base. Today there are many small to medium sized farms, rather than a few major players.</p>
<p>This has implications for what Mnangagwa does next. What are the top priorities for agriculture, and what can be learnt from the challenges faced since the land reform?</p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>Research we’ve done over the past 18 years provides some useful pointers. We have been tracking what has happened to land reform farms across Zimbabwe, with sites in Masvingo (in the dry south-east), in Mvurwi (north of Harare) and in Matobo (in Matabeleland). We have been looking at both smallholder production (in so-called A1 areas) and medium-scale commercial farms (so-called A2 allocations), as well as outgrower arrangements in lowveld sugar estates.</p>
<p>The results have been surprising. Despite the woeful lack of support, the smallholders have done reasonably well. Most are producing surpluses and reinvesting in their farms. Around two thirds have produced more food than just for subsistence in nearly all years that we’ve conducted the research. In Mvurwi, tobacco dominates, and the smallholder-led tobacco boom has brought significant investment, both on and off-farm.</p>
<p>For their part larger landholdings have struggled. Lack of finance capital for many has meant they have not got off the ground and some have significant areas of under-utilised land, with infrastructure in disrepair.</p>
<p>The exceptions are those operating under contract arrangements with estates. These farmers have done relatively well because they’ve been supported and finance has been guaranteed. New contracting and joint venture arrangements are emerging in some areas, but much more needs to be done.</p>
<h2>Ten priorities for agricultural development</h2>
<p>Drawing on this experience, below I suggest ten priorities for getting agriculture moving once the first tasks of paying compensation, undertaking a land audit and establishing an efficient land administration system are complete.</p>
<p><strong>Land tenure</strong></p>
<p>Land tenure security should be assured through issuing 99-year leases for larger land reform farms and permits for smaller farms. This should be complemented by clear regulations to avoid land concentration and to facilitate women’s access to land. This can be achieved through a multiform tenure system based on trusted, secure property relations.</p>
<p><strong>Finance</strong></p>
<p>Getting private bank finance flowing is essential. Bankable leases will help, as will the acceptance of a range of forms of collateral by finance institutions. State assurances and the building of trust will be key.</p>
<p><strong>Partnerships</strong></p>
<p>Partnerships and joint ventures will be significant for some larger farms and certain crops, where external finance and expertise are essential. Already Chinese involvement in tobacco production is proving to be important. Opening opportunities for the return of highly skilled former white farmers will be significant too. Regulations to ensure such partnerships are truly joint and involve the transfer of skills are vital.</p>
<p><strong>Government loans</strong></p>
<p>Government loans for agriculture are currently offered through the “command agriculture” programme. Focusing on larger farms with irrigation infrastructure, it has shown some success in the past season. But such programmes should not be abused for political ends. And it’s essential that loans are fully repaid.</p>
<p><strong>Access to markets</strong></p>
<p>Linking diverse producers to markets is essential. Too often smallholders get poor value for their products, but ensuring local content purchasing by supermarkets, reduced red tape and support for investment in transport infrastructure will help. Already the reduction in market transaction costs through the removal of many police roadblocks has had a massive, positive impact, as fewer bribes have to be paid.</p>
<p><strong>Value addition</strong></p>
<p>The country must work on developing value-added activity around the agricultural sector. Local processing and packaging would ensure employment along the value chain. And preservation, processing and selling to niche markets could offset risks, such as a glut in horticultural products.</p>
<p><strong>Smart support systems</strong></p>
<p>Extension advice and market support through IT applications is increasingly feasible, given growing connectivity and the wide ownership of smartphones. This means farmers can be offered more attuned and useful advice. A wholesale rethink of agricultural extension and support services is therefore required.</p>
<p><strong>Irrigation</strong></p>
<p>Irrigation is essential to boost production in dryland areas, especially given the increased variability in rainfall patterns due to climate change. But this should not involve expensive, large-scale schemes. Instead they should be focused on supporting farmer-led irrigation, using small pumps and pipes bought locally. External intervention should be focused on improving water use efficiency and management.</p>
<p><strong>Mechanisation</strong></p>
<p>Appropriate mechanisation is another priority. Again this shouldn’t be focused on the large-scale options of the past. Small-scale mechanisation, such as two-wheeled tractors and motorbike-drawn trailers may be more appropriate and affordable, and less subject to patronage, than large tractors and combines. For larger equipment, cooperative arrangements or private hire schemes could work, supported by online infrastructure and training.</p>
<p><strong>Local economic development</strong></p>
<p>Agricultural development needs to be seen as part of local economic development. It must be integrated into wider planning and investment frameworks at a district level, with new farms of varying sizes linked to small towns near land reform areas, where new employment and service provision opportunities open up.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90180/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />These ten suggestions together could make a big difference, both to the economy and to farmers’ livelihoods across the country. Let’s hope that President Mnangagwa’s commitment to agricultural development is translated into action &#8211; and soon.</p>
<p>This article was originally published on The Conversation.</p>


Op-Ed: Ten priorities for getting agriculture moving in Zimbabwe

<p>Zimbabwe has given cabinet ministers and senior government officials until the end of February to declare their assets as new President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeks to foster transparency and fight corruption.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-292290 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Zimbabwe_Emmerson_GettyImages-RZ1.png" alt="" width="850" height="566" /></p>
<p>Mnangagwa, 75, took power after Robert Mugabe was toppled by the military. He immediately promised to tackle corruption, especially in public institutions.</p>
<p>Misheck Sibanda, chief secretary to the president and cabinet, said in a statement that it was now mandatory for cabinet ministers, their deputies, senior government officials and bosses of state-owned businesses to declare their assets.</p>
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<p>The officials will be required to disclose details on their real estate, other property valued above $100,000, and shareholdings in businesses by February 28.</p>
<p>“The president expects the full and urgent cooperation of all the affected office bearers,” Sibanda said.</p>
<p>Mnangagwa, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, the first time by a Zimbabwean president, is trying to break with past policies of Mugabe in a bid to lure foreign investment and end the country’s international pariah status.</p>
<p>Under Mugabe’s near four-decade rule, few government officials were arrested for corruption.</p>
<p>When the military announced it had put Mugabe under house arrest on Nov. 15, it said it was targeting criminals that surrounded the 93-year-old leader.</p>
<p>Since then, three former government ministers and allies of Mugabe have been arrested and charged in court for criminal abuse of office. The trio denies the charges and say they are being persecuted for supporting Mugabe and his wife Grace.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Peter Graff</p>
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New Zimbabwe leader orders top officials to declare assets

<p>The European Union is ready to review ties with Zimbabwe and support the country’s re-engagement with international financial institutions once the new government presents clear plans for political and economic reform, the EU’s embassy in Harare said.</p>
<div id="attachment_291244" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-image-291244 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Emmerson-Mnangagwa_GettyImages.png" alt="" width="850" height="565" /><p id="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Emmerson Mnangagwa: Getty Images</p></div>
<p>That could include providing election monitors when Zimbabweans vote later this year for the first time since former president Robert Mugabe resigned following a de facto military coup in November after nearly four decades in power.</p>
<p>The embassy said in a statement on Tuesday that the EU Council had agreed at a meeting in Brussels on Monday that the elections were an essential step in mending relations.</p>
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<p>“The EU will support the authorities in establishing as soon as possible a constructive re-engagement with international financial institutions based on a clear and time-bound economic and political reform programme,” the statement said.</p>
<p>“The EU stands ready to review the whole range of its policies towards Zimbabwe at any moment to take into account the progress achieved in the country.”</p>
<p>The southern African nation became a pariah under Mugabe when it defaulted on its foreign debt in 1999 and was slapped with Western sanctions over alleged vote rigging and the violent seizure of white-owned farms.</p>
<p>New president Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, has promised to repair ties with the West, repay Zimbabwe’s foreign debt, compensate white farmers and open up the resource-rich country to overseas investors.</p>
<p>The EU has since 2009 gradually lifted sanctions on senior ruling party and military figures and state-owned firms but kept a financial and travel embargo on Mugabe and his wife Grace.</p>
<p>Since imposing the sanctions, the EU has shunned the government, and restricted its funding to charities only.</p>
<p>The 28-member bloc said after Monday’s meeting it would welcome an invitation to monitor the election later this year if Zimbabwe invites it to do so, the embassy statement said.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Catherine Evans</p>
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EU says ready to support Zimbabwe engage foreign lenders

<p>What a contrast; just two months after Emmerson Mnangagwa was in hiding in South Africa, in fear of his life while battle tanks rumbled through his capital, he is going to walk, chin-up, into the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,  on  Monday  with a new investment brochure under his arm in the hope of persuading the world to pour hard currency into what is left of his economy. The document, in the possession of CNBC Africa, promises much, but bears little close scrutiny.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe has suffered an economic meltdown over the last 15 years and struggles on with crumbling infrastructure and no currency to call its own. Confidence fell during the dwindling economic fortunes  in the painful last years of President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule hastened by a military takeover.</p>
<p>The canny crocodile – his nom de guerre from the liberation war– was being forced out by Mugabe. Now he has a new lease on life and knows that his survival <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/2018/01/18/zimbabwes-mnangagwa-says-hold-elections-four-five-months/">past the elections this year</a> hinges upon reviving the economy and putting money back into the pockets of an increasingly restive population.</p>
<p>The investment document is well intentioned and gets off on the right foot. It promises reform to become more attractive to foreign investors with the streamlining of legal frameworks, respect for bilateral trade agreements. There is also a promise of good governance and compensation when it all goes wrong.</p>
<p>It falls down a bit with an ambiguous line dealing with the protection of property.</p>
<p>“The government commits to the protection of all investments from expropriation, or from measures taken that will have a similar effect, except for a public purpose…”</p>
<p>What exactly a “public purpose” means in this document is open to debate. Does it mean that when the public – or the government on their behalf – needs property, it can take it? Wasn’t that the justification for the disastrous land seizures from commercial farmers that began in 2000? The investment document also promises investors: “adequate and effective compensation”.  Unlikely, to say the least, from a cash-strapped Treasury in a country where foreign currency is rationed.</p>
<p>Yet the document persists with a promise to compensate farmers in Zimbabwe who lost their land and is considering setting up a tribunal to determine how much should be paid. The farmers, a number of whom were chased off their land by armed mobs, are likely to be sceptical. Many voters who supported the land seizures are likely to be flummoxed.</p>
<p>The document for Davos also promises to drop the infamous indigenisation requirement, that is 51% ownership by Zimbabweans, that has discouraged many investors. Yet, it says this unpopular requirement will remain for diamonds and platinum two of the big earning minerals. It says the ministry will be charged with drawing up a new bill and regulations to govern diamonds and platinum. How long that takes is not written in the document, but the longer it takes to create certainty the more likely investors are likely to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Mnangagwa maybe needs to be a little bolder and clearer if he is to win back foreign investors. His predecessor and former mentor Mugabe will be remembered for ushering a once robust economy into steep economic decline. Maybe Mnangagwa needs to work fast to stand a chance of being celebrated for doing the opposite by showing the world that when it comes to business the crocodile has teeth.</p>


What Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is offering investors at WEF Davos  

<p>Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has fired from parliament 11 allies of former leader Robert Mugabe, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa continues a purge of officials that publicly supported his old boss and wife Grace.</p>
<div id="attachment_291244" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-image-291244 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Emmerson-Mnangagwa_GettyImages.png" alt="" width="850" height="565" /><p id="caption-attachment-291244" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Emmerson Mnangagwa: Getty Images</p></div>
<p>Mnangagwa came to power in November after 93-year-old Mugabe was forced to resign following a defacto military coup.</p>
<p>Mnangagwa has spoken against retribution but local media reports say a ZANU-PF restructuring process around the country was targeting those who publicly backed Mugabe and Grace, whose tilt at power resulted in the military intervention.</p>
<p>According to a transcript of parliament procedures from Thursday, deputy speaker of parliament Mabel Chinomona said ZANU-PF had notified the house of assembly that the 11 no longer represented its interests, triggering their dismissal.</p>
<p>Some of the legislators were cabinet ministers in Mugabe’s government. In November ZANU-PF fired five top Mugabe allies from parliament, including Jonathan Moyo, a fiercely combative mouthpiece for a faction that backed Grace Mugabe’s rise.</p>
<p>Many of Mugabe’s political allies were either arrested by the military in a series of spectacular raids in the early hours of Nov. 15 or fled to neighboring countries.</p>
<p>In private, Mnangagwa’s allies worry that some of Mugabe’s supporters could regroup and campaign against the new president in elections that will be held in four to five months.</p>
<p>Moyo told Reuters last week that the international community must help remove the “military government” that has taken power or risk the country descending into chaos.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Michael Perry</p>
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Zimbabwe ruling party fires 11 Mugabe allies from parliament

<p>Exiled Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett and four other people were killed in a helicopter crash in a remote northern part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, officials and his political party said on Thursday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-296584 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Roy-Bennett_Flicr.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="332" /></p>
<p>The crash of a private Huey helicopter in rugged terrain near Raton, New Mexico, on Wednesday evening killed Bennett, 60, along with his wife, Heather Bennett, 55, James Coleman Dodd, 57, of Colorado, Charles Ryland Burnett, 61, of Texas and Paul Cobb, 67, of Texas, New Mexico State Police said.</p>
<p>Bennett, a former treasurer general of the opposition MDC party, was an important figure in Zimbabwean politics and served time in prison under former President Robert Mugabe. He recently told CNN that his country would never again let itself be ruled by a dictatorship.</p>
<p>“Roy was a resolute and committed fighter for democratic change in Zimbabwe,” the MDC said in a statement.</p>
<p>The party described Bennett as a charismatic grassroots politician and successful farmer in the country’s eastern Chimanimani District. He was fluent in Zimbabwe’s Shona language, it said, and had helped hundreds of impoverished villagers pay school fees for their children.</p>
<p>Though white, Bennett fought for the rights of black Zimbabweans, the party said, and had the nickname “Pachedu,” a Shona word that translates as “together” or “one of us.”</p>
<p>The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the crash 15 miles (24 km) east of Raton.</p>
<p>Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Daniel Wallis</p>


Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett killed in U.S. helicopter crash

<p>Zimbabwe will hold elections in four to five months, a newspaper on Thursday quoted President Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying, the first time since independence the southern African state will conduct a vote that does not involve former ruler Robert Mugabe.</p>
<div id="attachment_291761" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-291761" class="wp-image-291761 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Zim_Emmerson-Mnangagwa_GettyImages_RZ1.png" alt="" width="850" height="605" /><p id="caption-attachment-291761" class="wp-caption-text">Zimbabwe President, Emmerson Mnangagwa: Getty Image</p></div>
<p>Mnangagwa, who took over after Mugabe was forced to resign in November following a defacto military coup, was speaking during an official trip to Mozambique, the official Herald newspaper reported.</p>
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<p>The international community will be closely watching the vote, which is seen as a litmus test of Mnangagwa’s democratic credentials and is key to unlocking badly needed financial assistance and repairing relations with Western powers and international financial institutions.</p>
<p>“Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time and we have to preach peace, peace and peace because we know it is good for us and we have no doubt that we will have peaceful elections,” Mnangagwa was quoted as saying.</p>
<p>“We will ensure that Zimbabwe delivers free, credible, fair and indisputable elections to ensure Zimbabwe engages the world as a qualified democratic state.”</p>
<p>Under the constitution, Zimbabwe should hold elections between July 22 and August 22 but parliament can elect to dissolve itself, triggering an early vote. The ruling ZANU-PF holds a two-thirds majority in parliament.</p>
<p>Since 2000, elections in Zimbabwe have been marred by political violence and disputes, which led to the country becoming an international pariah under Mugabe’s 37-year rule.</p>
<p>The next vote will pit Mnangagwa against the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is suffering cancer, a development that has weakened and divided his party.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Nick Macfie</p>
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Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa says to hold elections in four to five months

<p>Zimbabwe will not stop using “bond notes”, a domestic quasi-currency, until the economy fully recovers, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Wednesday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-44288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/patrick-chinamasa__1__zimbabweelections.jpg" alt="Zimbabwe says to clear $1.86 billion arrears by next April" width="600" height="478" /></p>
<p>The southern African nation in November 2016 started using bond notes in a bid to ease shortages of U.S. dollars, the country’s official currency since 2009.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Since Emmerson Mnangagwa became president last November in the wake of a de facto military coup that removed 93-year-old Robert Mugabe, there has been speculation that bond notes would be scrapped.</p>
<p>“Bond notes will stay until we have our own local currency,” Chinamasa told a business meeting in Harare.</p>
<p>The conditions needed to bring back a local currency include foreign currency reserves of more than three months, a lower budget deficit and higher exports and industrial production, Chinamasa said.</p>
<p>The bond notes, which are also in short supply, are pegged at par with the U.S. dollar but trade at a discount on the black market. On Wednesday $1 was equivalent to $1.25 in bond notes.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Stoddard</p>
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Zimbabwe finance minister says “bond notes” to stay for now

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<p data-reactid="32">Zimbabwe’s state diamond company is expected to produce at least 3 million carats this year, up 65 percent from 1.8 million in 2017, the mines minister told parliament on Monday.</p>
<div id="attachment_114416" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114416" class="wp-image-114416 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/shutterstock_854678082.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="600" /><p id="caption-attachment-114416" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Shutterstock.</p></div>
<p data-reactid="33">Winston Chitando said the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company, which was formed in 2016 when the government banned private companies from operating in the Marange diamond fields, will start selling gems it stockpiled last year in the first quarter of 2018.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="35">Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Soddard</p>
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Zimbabwe state diamond company to lift output 65% in 2018: minister

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<p>According to Finance and Economic Planning Minister Patrick Chinamasa, the consensus in Government is that bond notes have largely served their purpose and are “not tenable” within the context of Zimbabwe’s new economic growth trajectory.</p>


Limbo over Zimbabwe scraping bond notes

<p><em>Ian Scoones, University of Sussex</em></p>
<p>Zimbabwe urgently needs a new system of land administration to harness development in the agricultural sector. The country’s land use and ownership have been significantly reconfigured by the fast-track land reform programme undertaken during Robert Mugabe’s rule.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-40787 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/zimbabwe_binga_farmers_flickr.jpg" alt="Zimbabwe abolishes 8" width="1024" height="768" /></p>
<p>Today, following the land reform of the 2000s, Zimbabwe has an agrarian structure that’s made up of small, medium and large farms, all under different forms of land ownership. A landscape that used to be dominated by 4,500 large-scale commercial farmers is now populated by about 145,000 smallholder households, occupying 4.1 million hectares, and around 23,000 medium-scale farmers on 3.5 million hectares.</p>
<p>Knowing exactly who has land and where is difficult. Illegal multiple allocations combine with unclear boundary demarcations and an incomplete recording system. Many new land owners don’t have formal documentation and lack leases or permits confirming ownership. There is a great deal of uncertainty given the often haphazard, sometimes corrupt, approach to land reallocation that took place under the land reform programme.</p>
<p>Given that the landscape is very different to what went before, a new system of land administration is urgently needed.</p>
<h2>Promise of change</h2>
<p>In his inaugural speech, Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, declared that land reform was both necessary and irreversible, and acknowledged some big, outstanding challenges.</p>
<p>A new land administration system for the post-land reform era is long overdue. Paying compensation to former owners is a vital first step. This has to be combined with a comprehensive land audit to weed out those failing to produce, or those illegally holding more than one plot, alongside allocating leases and permits to those in land reform areas, and attracting investment into agriculture as the mainstay of an ailing economy.</p>
<p>Both compensation and audit processes will inevitably throw up disputes. A fair and transparent system for rapid resolution is required, including the establishment of an independent Land Tribunal. Alternative dispute resolution processes at a local level will hopefully avoid the dangers of the courts getting clogged with numerous cases.</p>
<p>An audit also has to be linked to land registration, and an effective, but low-cost, land information management system. Following registration, legal recognition and formal documentation of land ownership is essential, as land tenure security is vital for future investment.</p>
<h2>Many forms of tenure</h2>
<p>Some believe that the only solution is individual freehold titling, as land is otherwise seen as “dead capital”. But this is mistaken, as other forms of land tenure can offer security, spurring investment, if the institutional, legal and political context is right.</p>
<p>As argued in 1994 by the Rukuni Commission, a major review of tenure policy in Zimbabwe, a multi-form tenure arrangement makes most sense. In some settings, communal tenure regimes are best, allowing flexibility and broad access. In others, a simple permit system can allow registration. In others, a leasehold arrangement can offer security and collateral, while regulations can offset land concentration and assure access for certain people.</p>
<p>Occasionally freehold title may be appropriate if a completely free market in land is required. However, titling schemes are notoriously expensive to deliver, open up multiple disputes and are difficult to regulate to ensure more equitable ownership structures, including land ownership by women.</p>
<h2>Financing is essential</h2>
<p>To pay land taxes, mortgages or compensation payments, the land must be productive, and this requires finance. Finance for agriculture has been missing in recent years.</p>
<p>Great efforts have been made to ensure that the 99-year lease for medium-scale commercial farm land (known as A2) is bankable, and cannot be withdrawn arbitrarily. It seems that, at last, the Zimbabwe Banking Association is in agreement. This will allow the release of private bank finance, as land can be used as collateral.</p>
<p>For those without land leases, other types of collateral can also be used, including assets such as livestock, vehicles or buildings. Alternative sources of farm finance include commercial crop contracting, partnerships and joint ventures or government backed loans.</p>
<p>All these financing models have shown some promise in Zimbabwe in recent years, with crop contracting at the core of the smallholder tobacco production success story. Contracting arrangements are also extending to other crops. Joint ventures, including partnerships with Chinese investors and former commercial farmers, have also been emerging in a number of under-capitalised medium-scale farms.</p>
<p>“Command agriculture” &#8211; a public-private input supply scheme &#8211; has been a flagship project led by the new president and the military. It has helped to revitalise maize and wheat production, especially on larger farms with irrigation infrastructure. Questions are however raised about longer-term sustainability of such subsidised financing.</p>
<h2>Sustainability is key</h2>
<p>Getting a new land administration system working is a huge task. All the elements have to work together – from audit to valuation to compensation to dispute resolution to issuing land tenure documentation to financing – and back again.</p>
<p>And this is not just a one-off task to resolve the current mess. Land disputes will continue, audits will need to be repeated, and new leases and permits and sources of finance secured. For this reason any new system must be sustainable, both administratively and financially, and not reliant on external donor finance. Taxes, rents and compensation repayments need to be paid back into a land fund, which in turn supports the system for the long-term.</p>
<p>Testing this all out at a district level before rapidly rolling it out across the country is an urgent task for Zimbabwe’s new Land Commission. Elaborating a new land administration system is long overdue. Such a system will help the country get over the post-land reform impasse, resolving outstanding land issues and getting much-needed investment flowing into the agriculture sector.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89387/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Only with this working well – as countries in East Asia recognised when they undertook land reforms decades ago &#8211; will the full benefits of Zimbabwe’s land reform be realised.</p>
<p>This article was originally published on The Conversation.</p>


Zimbabwe urgently needs a new land administration system

<p data-reactid="36">By MacDonald Dzirutwe</p>
<p data-reactid="37">HARARE, Jan 9 (Reuters) &#8211; If Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai were to stand down &#8211; as he has hinted &#8211; the party he founded would face immediate instability and could even split, handing a gift to new President Emmerson Mnangagwa in an election this year.</p>
<p data-reactid="38">The most visible opposition figure in the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980, Tsvangirai said on Monday it was time for the older generation to make way for younger leaders in the party.</p>
<p data-reactid="39">Mnangagwa, 75, rose to power last November after Robert Mugabe stood down following a de facto coup, ending a 37-year reign marked by economic mismanagement, corruption and vote rigging allegations.</p>
<p>Investors and Western governments who cheered the end of Mugabe’s rule will be closely watching the election for evidence Mnangagwa can run a free and fair vote and turn a new page in Zimbabwe’s history.</p>
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<div id="google_ads_iframe_/4735792/africa.reuters.com_2__container__">It was expected that Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would pose a robust challenge to Mnangagwa’s ruling ZANU-PF.</div>
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<p data-reactid="42">
But that prospect may now be in jeopardy.</p>
<p data-reactid="43">Tsvangirai, who has been battling cancer for several years and looked frail at a meeting with Mnangagwa last week, did not explicitly say he would stand down and his spokesman said he could not comment further.</p>
<p data-reactid="44">Tsvangirai, 65, has three deputies, one who was elected and two others he handpicked in 2016 to help him run the party, a move that still irks some MDC members.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">The MDC has known division twice before, in 2005 and in 2014 following a heavy election defeat to the ZANU-PF. And, though analysts said it was good in the long term for Tsvangirai to relinquish the MDC leadership after nearly 20 years in charge, the succession had to be handled carefully.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">“Behind the scenes, the three party vice presidents are gladiating to take over from Tsvangirai,” said Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.</p>
<p data-reactid="47">“It should be a democratic process and not an autocratic change of power. If Tsvangirai takes that route it will tear the party asunder. It will be a sad day if Tsvangirai’s departure means the death of the MDC.”</p>
<p data-reactid="48">“CRITICAL MOMENT”</p>
<p data-reactid="49">The MDC has weakened progressively since 2008, when Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the first round of voting.</p>
<p data-reactid="50">After opting out of the run-off alleging violence by the army against its supporters, the MDC formed a unity government with ZANU-PF that helped stabilise the economy until Tsvangirai was defeated in a 2013 presidential election by Mugabe.</p>
<p data-reactid="51">A senior MDC official said Tsvangirai was still considering whether to call for a special leadership congress or have the party appoint a new presidential candidate who he could help campaign ahead of elections.</p>
<p data-reactid="52">“The MDC is at a very critical moment and the issue of transitioning to a new leader has been weighing heavily on president Tsvangirai,” the MDC executive told Reuters, asking for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.</p>
<p data-reactid="53">Tsvangirai, 65, the self-taught son of a bricklayer who worked in a rural mine to support his family, cut his political teeth in the labour movement as a mine foreman, later becoming a top trade unionist.</p>
<p data-reactid="54">In 1999 he was elected founding MDC president and built his political career as a one of the only people willing to stand up to Mugabe, making him difficult to replace.</p>
<p data-reactid="55">He will have to juggle regional, tribal and gender considerations in looking for a successor.</p>
<p>“Those are salient issues that the MDC cannot run away from,” said Masunungure. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Joe Brock and Richard Balmforth)</p>


Has Zimbabwe’s opposition leader handed President Emmerson Mnangagwa a gift?

<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mh-nBOeFQa0" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>Zimbabwe is going through changes both socially and in the function of government. The country is trying to attract a foreign direct investment through a plethora of initiatives including selling stake in state owned companies. Chad Chawanda, a Zimbabwean born entrepreneur and the CEO of Size Chunk joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Why this global shaper, entrepreneur believes in Zimbabwe’s new dawn

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<p>Zimbabwe is seeking to sell off stakes in state-owned companies in a bid to attract foreign investors. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Kwadwo Sarkodie, Attorney at Mayer Brown.</p>


What Zimbabwe may have to give to attract bidders for state companies

<p>HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Two former Zimbabwean cabinet ministers who served under ex-president Robert Mugabe have been charged with corruption, their lawyers said on Saturday, the latest sign of a crackdown on officials loyal to Mugabe.</p>
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<p data-reactid="41">Mugabe, 93, stood down in November after 37 years in power following a de facto military coup, making way for his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over.</p>
<p>When the military seized power they arrested key allies of Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who was vying with Mnangagwa to succeed her husband.</p>
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6 in-article-tag">Former foreign minister Walter Mzembi and ex-energy minister Samuel Undenge were charged on Friday with “criminal abuse of office”, their lawyers said. They both deny wrongdoing.</div>
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Undenge is accused of issuing a $12,650 contract without due tender to a company that did no work, according to a charge sheet seen by Reuters.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">Mzembi and Undenge were both granted bail on Saturday, asked to surrender their passports and remanded until Jan. 22 when their cases will be heard.</p>
<p data-reactid="46">“We are going to make an application for an exception to the charge because the charges that my client is facing are ridiculous,” Job Sikhala, Mzembi’s lawyer, told reporters outside the court.</p>
<p data-reactid="47">Undenge’s lawyer Alex Muchadehama described the case against his client as a “circus”.</p>
<p>Former finance minister Ignatius Chombo is on bail after being charged in November over accusations he tried to defraud the central bank over a decade ago. Chombo denies wrongdoing.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="49">Reporting by Alfonce Mbizwo; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Ros Russell</p>
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Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa closes in on former Zimbabwean ministers

<p data-reactid="32">HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s President <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/11/22/explainer-who-is-emmerson-mnangagwa-zimbabwes-next-president/">Emmerson Mnangagwa</a> has ruled out forming a coalition government after visiting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe is due to hold elections in 2018 in the first big test of Mnangagwa’s legitimacy after he rose to power in November last year following a de facto military coup which saw veteran leader Robert Mugabe reluctantly cede power.</p>
<p data-reactid="41">Mnangagwa has previously indicated polls could be held as early as March, and is under pressure from civil society, would-be investors and opposition parties to implement political reforms following Mugabe’s 37-year grip on power.</p>
<p data-reactid="42">“Currently there is no need,” Mnangagwa told reporters, referring to the possibility of forming a coalition with Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).</p>
<p data-reactid="43">Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party and the MDC were partners in a government of national unity for five years until 2013, eventually breaking down as acrimony between the parties re-emerged.</p>
<p data-reactid="44">Tsvangirai, who is due to challenge Mnangagwa in national elections, has been receiving treatment for colon cancer since 2016 but says he is in good health.</p>
<p data-reactid="45">“He is fine, he is recuperating very well and says he will soon again be having a medical check-up in South Africa,” said Mnangagwa after visiting Tsvangirai at his home.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="47">Reporting by Alfonce Mbizwo; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Richard Balmforth</p>
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Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa rules out coalition government

<p>Zimbabwe has invited bids to buy stakes in up to eight loss-making state-owned enterprises, including its national airline and power utility, to help plug a ballooning budget deficit, its deputy finance minister said on Wednesday.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-131951 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Air_Zimbabwe_Wikimedia.jpg" alt="" width="843" height="429" /></p>
<p data-reactid="40">“We are diluting our shareholding in those entities and our shareholding might go to zero percent in some entities,” Terence Mukupe told Reuters.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="42">Reporting by Alfince Mbizwo; Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Joe Brock</p>
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