The Minister of Lands has issued Regulations which cover several aspects concerning the occupation of agricultural land.
These Regulations are known as the Agricultural Land Settlement ( Permit Terms and Conditions) Regulations, 2014 Statutory Instrument 53 of 2014.
The essence of these regulations is to remove OFFER LETTERS and replace them with PERMITS. This implies the withdrawal of OFFER LETTERS and the giving of PERMITS to all those occupying agricultural land.
These regulations are an immense improvement on the Offer Letter approach. First the permit is issued " for the benefit of the permit holder and his or her dependants.
The regulations define what a dependant is. It says this is a minor child of the permit holder, an adopted child or a step-child of the permit holder.
It also says a dependant is a person that the permit holder has a duty to look after under the general law.
Second it is issued for an indefinite period.
SECTION 6 of these Regulations deals with the rights of a person who has been given a permit to occupy agricultural land.
This law says a permit holder has the following rights :
1. They are allowed to occupy, hold & use the land given to them. However, they can only use the land for agricultural or residential purposes including as pastures;
2.the occupier can also develop the land & " erect any infrastructure and other improvements". These improvements must be related to purposes discussed above.
The law is very clear. A permit holder has no title, ie you do not own the land. You only have the right to use it. As a result you may not sell the land!
However, the permit holder is allowed to transfer, rent out, use as security or give away in a will.
Tomorrow I will deal with permit holder's right to SUBLET, ASSIGN,CEDE, etc!
Good night ZIMBABWEANS!
