THREE years ago medical practitioners approached President Emmerson Mnangagwa for pieces of agricultural land, which saw the president responding in three days.
The practitioners were given the green light and enthusiastically went around their respective provinces to identify vacant or underutilised land with the help of local land officials.
In some provinces like Mashonaland East, land was found and inspected with the Lands minister Anxious Masuka recommending some subdivisions and re-planning those identified.
The sad news is that no one has been allocated anything three years down the line, with medical practitioners being tossed from one office to another.
I saw it as a way of frustrating the applicants so that the issue goes into total oblivion. Is that not tantamount to undermining the authority of the president and the Lands minister?
The provincial lands office in Mashonaland East led by Clifford Mukoyi has offered little help.
Seke district lands office seems to be stalling all the necessary movements.
Corruption is one of the impediments to economic and social development in any country in the world.
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The scourge needs to be nipped in the bud by dedicated people, who have the nation at heart not few individuals who are merely after self-aggrandizement.
This publication last week under its investigative journalism unit, Truth Diggers, carried a story about criminal land cartels in Mashonaland East province who are accused of cashing in on vast tracts of land in the province, with Seke district being the most hit.
The investigation by this publication was so deep that everyone could understand the gravity of corruption orchestrated by Lands ministry officials who seem untouchable.
The officers should know they are mere government employees who are there to do public service.
The apparent eviction of a renowned war veteran, Bernard Masendeke, from Subdivision 1 of Dover Farm, is a tip of the iceberg as many people are dying in silence.
Some are threatened by lands officials because they have nowhere to report their cases while others suffer in total silence.
Corruption in the ministry has reached a crescendo where all relevant departments should now put heads and hearts together to wipe it away.
Masendeke’s case shows how land is being sold to applicants thus disadvantaging the ordinary prospective farmers who have no capacity to raise monetary figures as high as US$80 000.
The same story shows how lax the executives in the Lands ministry are in dealing with corruption within its ranks.
Some of the people cited in the investigation story are not new to controversy while others have numerous complaints against them.
Clara Makumbe, a resettlement officer in the Lands ministry in Seke district, appeared in the article several times yet she continues to work unperturbed or maybe there is someone protecting her at the top.
Land ministry’s permanent secretary Obert Jiri admits in the same news article that corruption was rearing its ugly head in his ministry.
Why does a whole ministry with a minister, deputy minister, permanent secretary, directors and deputy directors fail to take action against deep-seated corruption under its jurisdiction?
Is this not a sign of failure that warrants the entire leadership to resign? I have better trust for politburo secretary for Lands to solve the mess at the Lands ministry.
Everyone should know that corruption is retrogressive in nature.
Many people have complained about the rottenness in the Ministry of Lands with some officials being implicated in unwarranted allocation of land while others are valuing cronyism, favoritism or nepotism when land allocation is done.
You hear the whole Lands ministry claiming that land is no longer available for allocation yet the next day a friend of some officials is allocated fresh land next to you.
Complaints are raised on a daily basis against corrupt lands officials in Chegutu, Kadoma, Chinhoyi, Bindura, but no action is taken against the implicated officials.
The Lands ministry is one ministry that warrants complete overhaul if sanity is to be restored.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) should sharpen its teeth when cases are reported to it otherwise we remain stagnant forever.
I understand that the Politburo wields more power and authority over government and it is my appeal to the secretary for lands to reign on Lands ministry officials that are putting the name of the entire ministry into disrepute.
If the president did not know what is happening on the ground, then it is time the politburo secretary through his directors, informs the highest office in the country.
The ruling party should know there are many detractors in government departments who are bent on derailing national progress.
Heads should roll in the Lands ministry if sanity is to be restored.
Zacc should investigate all cases of corruption involving land allocations.
Corruption is one serious way of sabotaging the country.
