Mozambique: Minister demands transparency in new National Land Policy

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Minister demands transparency in new National Land Policy

3:02 CAT | 23 Mar 2022

Photo: Ministério da Terra e Ambiente

The Minister of Land and Environment, Ivete Maibaze, this Wednesday morning urged the members of the National Land Policy Revision Commission to be guided by transparency in the elaboration of the new National Land Policy, Minister Maibaze was speaking at the opening of the National Land Meeting, in Maputo

The process was launched by the Mozambican Head of State, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, during the IX Session of the Land Consultation Forum, held in November 2017.

At the time, the Mozambican Head of State defined the premises that should guide the debate in the elaboration of the new land policy, namely that:

the Mozambican State will continue to be the owner of the land and all natural resources;
all Mozambicans have the right of access to land and
the rights acquired by families and local communities must always be protected.

This two-day meeting takes place under the motto “For Equitable Land Access, Secure Tenure and Sustainable Use”.

The agenda focuses on the discussion of the Draft of the National Land Policy, with a view to obtaining contributions enabling the improvement of the document and the production of a Legal Framework that reflects the interests of all Mozambicans.

The analysis of the 1995 National Land Policy Implementation Diagnosis is also scheduled to take place during the meeting.

The Minister of Land and Environment said she was aware that the previous phases of public consultation took place in an atypical context, where people participated with some restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, extreme weather events such as cyclones, floods and strong winds, while other fellow citizens were forcibly displaced from their usual residences due to armed conflicts in the northern region of the country.

According to the Minister, given this reality, the Government decided through this meeting to create a space for public consultation for Mozambicans and also to extend, for another 30 days, the period for collecting contributions around this instrument, one of several that will guide the management and administration of land and ensure its sustainable use for current and future generations.

ALSO READ: Land policy in Mozambique: ‘Peasants still to be heard’

Subsequently, the Minister said that the approximately 200 participants in this meeting had the responsibility to, on behalf of the approximately 30 million Mozambicans, contribute to ensure that the Preliminary Project resulting from the debates in this room respond to, among others, the following challenges:

Stop land grabbing in the country;

Prevent situations of sale, speculation and corruption in the land sector;

Reduce conflicts over land and other natural resources;

Combat the phenomenon of land idleness;

Strengthen the protection of the rights of local communities, especially women in rural areas and young people.

Ivete Maibaze urged the members of the National Land Policy Revision Commission to continue to listen at this meeting and in other consultation spaces to all the claims of society, to register and take into consideration all the proposals received, aiming at consensus and legitimacy of practical solutions to the real problems on the land that affect Mozambicans.