Africa-Press – Mozambique. The road is open for us to adopt a more robust and predictable land law”, declared Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Monday.
Speaking in Maputo on Monday, at a session of the Consultative Land Forum, he stressed that the principles of state ownership of the land should remain untouched. That meant that the land “belongs to the entire Mozambican people. That is, the land belongs to all of us, as Mozambican citizens”.
He warned that “no social or administrative practices should be allowed which result in a free, or disguised, market in land, contradicting its character as a collective asset and a universal means of wealth creation”.
There should be no exclusion of the poor from land tenure, since that would run the risk of creating “a landless class”. Likewise, there should be no exclusion of women and young people from land tenure.
When land is granted for public or private investment, said Chapo, there must be prior consultation with or negotiation with the affected communities, who must be paid the due compensation envisaged under the law.
The ban on buying, selling, renting or mortgaging land should remain in force, he said, but mechanisms could be introduced to trade land right titles (known as DUATs). In areas where a local community has title to the land, there could be direct negotiation between prospective investors and the community.
There must always be community, added Chapo, “to explain the viability and importance of the project”.
It was crucial, the President added, to “combat the practice of crimes such as the sale of land, which result in the practice of acts of corruption in the attribution of land rights. We must eradicate these damaging practices which undermine the development of our communities and cause conflicts between investors and local communities”.
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