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Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
Legislators have called for stiffer penalties on land barons in the wake of several people being duped by criminals who irregularly acquire pieces of urban land and sell them to desperate home seekers. The call was made last Thursday in the National House of Assembly during debate on the Land Commission Bill. The Bill seeks to establish the land commission to carry out periodic audits and resolve disputes, among other issues.

During debate on the Bill, legislators said the two-year imprisonment that the Bill imposed on people who transfer title of land without permission from acquiring authority was too lenient.

Glen Norah MP Mr Webster Maondera (MDC-T) said while he applauded the amendments, there was need to raise the jail term to 10 years. He said people were being duped countrywide by land barons. She sought to include a clause that amended Section 63 to impose the two- year imprisonment.

The proposed amendment by Deputy Minister Chikwama read as follows: “A person who purports, otherwise than in accordance with the express terms of a lease or permit, or without the written authorisation or consent of the acquiring authority, to allocate, allot, distribute, transfer, apportion, assign, subdivide, distribute, sell, dispose of, donate or otherwise alienate any gazetted or other State land, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level seven in respect of each identifiable piece or portion of such land thus unlawfully dealt with, or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.”

Glen Norah MP Mr Webster Maondera (MDC-T) said while he applauded the amendments, there was need to raise the jail term to 10 years. He said people were being duped countrywide by land barons.