Govt Plans Land Verification System to Curb Illegal Sales

The Government is considering introducing a land verification system that would allow prospective property buyers to establish the legal status of land before paying for residential stands or building homes.

The proposed system is part of wider reforms to Zimbabwe’s land ownership laws and is intended to curb illegal land sales, protect homebuyers and address gaps that have allowed land barons and other unauthorised dealers to operate.

Speaking at a Land Tenure High-Level Stakeholder Breakfast Meeting in Harare last week, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said the reforms would shift the focus from dealing with illegal developments after construction to preventing irregular transactions at the point of sale.

Under the proposed system, buyers would be able to verify whether land has a legitimate owner, whether it has been properly surveyed and planned, and whether it can legally be transferred before committing their money.

“Anyone who is procuring land, whether through a local authority or through the private sector, is doing so with land that he can verify that this is purchasable land, it has got legitimate title deeds, it was properly surveyed, properly planned,” Garwe said.

The minister said some people caught up in land disputes should not automatically be regarded as illegal occupants because they may have genuinely paid for their stands but dealt with individuals who had no legal authority to sell the land.

“Government is not desirous of demolishing people’s homes and government hasn’t demolished any homes,” Garwe said.

He said many affected homeowners had invested heavily in construction and, in the process, created employment for builders and other workers.

“We are saying these people have invested so much in building these houses and, in the process, they have created employment for the people that assisted them in building those houses,” he said.

The proposed verification mechanism is expected to address one of the major risks facing property buyers: paying for land before establishing whether the seller has the legal right to dispose of it.

The Government is yet to announce the detailed operation of the proposed system, including which institutions will conduct the checks, what documents buyers will require and whether a centralised database will eventually allow members of the public to verify land records electronically.

Garwe said the Land Tenure Committee, working with various Government ministries, would contribute to creating a system that enables citizens to establish the legal status of land before purchasing it. The reforms are also expected to address informal land transactions in communal areas, including so-called “sabhuku” deals, as well as illegal urban land sales.

Garwe warned members of the public against buying land from village heads, headmen or other individuals without first establishing whether they have the legal authority to sell or allocate the land. He specifically warned village-level land dealers that unauthorised sales could result in criminal penalties.

“Please go and tell the village heads and warn that sabhuku deals are attracting penalties and that the penalty is imprisonment. The law does not allow masabhuku to sell land,” he said. The proposed reforms could give property buyers greater protection by placing verification ahead of payment and construction. However, the effectiveness of the system will depend on the accessibility and reliability of land records, clear institutional responsibilities and the ability of buyers to obtain verification before entering into transactions.

The Government is expected to provide further details on the proposed mechanism as the land tenure reforms progress.

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