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The land rights situation in Tanzania 2012

The land rights situation in Tanzania 2012. Quick over view By: Yefred Myenzi Executive Director -HAKIARDHI . 1.0 BACKGROUND 1.1 The legal framework . The development of Tanzania land order that we see today has passed through four historical stages which are:

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The land rights situation in Tanzania 2012

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  1. The land rights situation in Tanzania 2012 Quick over view By: Yefred Myenzi Executive Director -HAKIARDHI

  2. 1.0 BACKGROUND 1.1 The legal framework • The development of Tanzania land order that we see today has passed through four historical stages which are: • Pre-colonial era up to 1890s also known as; customary tenure regime • Colonial era i.e from 1890-1961 also known as; resource accumulation era • Independence era –1961-1990’s also known as; National building era • The new land order era- 2000 to date, also known as; policy reform consolidation era

  3. 1.2 The current land order • National Land policy 1995 as amended in 1997 • Land Act number 4 of 1999 • Village Land Act number 5 of 1999

  4. 1.3 Other related laws to the land law • Mining Act 2010 (prior to the amendment it was a mining Act of 1998) • Investment Act 1997 • Land disputes (courts) Act 2002 • Land amendment Act 2004 • Land use plan Act 2007 • Urban Planning Act 2007 • Unit titles Act 2008 • Mortgage financing Act 2008

  5. 1.4 General provisions of the land laws • Land is public vested in the president on behalf of the citizens – the President is vested with a radical title • Land divides into 3 categories; village, reserve &general • Land is owned through deemed or granted right of occupancy (CCRO or Title deed) but equally recognized • Men and women have equalrights to access, use, own and disposition • Foreigners do not own land except for investment through T.I.C • Land acquisition is subject to full, fair and prompt compensation

  6. 2.0 WHAT HAVE BEEN THE CHALLENGES? • The security of tenure question to small producers • Contentious provisions in the law • Misuse of the radical title • Low pace of implementation of the law • Knowledge gap to the public • Uncontrolled land market amid the multiplying interests on land • Lack of enforcement of the law for defaulters e.t.c

  7. Challenges briefly explained…1 • General over view. The LA No. 4&VLA No.5 both of 1999 are bulky, not reader friendly (full of legal jargons), not easily implementable (too bureaucratic, too many forms, too many organs involved), over emphasizes on the commercial aspect of land versus its livelihoods value to the grassroots level communities.

  8. Challenge …2 • Lack of security of tenure entails lack of adequate protection of one’s interest on land against other interests. In the current land tenure system, you can own land today but you are not sure of tomorrow. It can be acquired by the president or changed its use with little or no involvement of the communities if it is a village land. Consequently, innocent villagers lose their rights to land and their sources of livelihoods too.

  9. Challenge…3 • Contentious provisions. General land is defined by act 4 to include un used and un occupied village land whereas the village land act defines all land within the village boundary according to various laws as village land. Then Act 4 prevails over all other laws when such conflict arises. The result of this, more village land is transferred to general land for uses that are not beneficial to the villagers directly. See also the English –swahili versions contractions in section 60 of the VLA

  10. Challenge …4Institutional power relations • The VC allocates up to 50 acres, VA not beyond 100 on advise of the District Council. BUT more powers are vested to the Commissioner and President while the village falls within the Village land category on which the VA could have a final say! • Need to examine the role played by the District Council on village land and the relationship between village based organs like VA, VC, VAC, VLUP VLC, VC committees . Do they have capacity?

  11. Challenge …5 • Low pace of implementation of the law. Since 1999 to 2011; out of the 11,000 villages 10,428 villages boundaries were re-established, 7,510 given VLC and only 157,968 CCROs issued country wide. • Formally recognized surveyed plots are 833,056 as of June 2011 and only 20,183 farms • In 2011 land use plan was conducted in 158 villages (see Budget speech MLHSD 2011)

  12. Challenge …6 • Low public awareness on land matters – this is a mixture of misinformation, lack of proper communication channels between the government and people on land issues, poor record management (in land registries), political interference, conflict of interests between the central and local government over land based resources etc.

  13. 3.0 WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS TO SMALL PRODUCERS? • Prevalence of Land use conflicts (between pastoralists and peasants, investors and local communities in mining, wildlife, agri business etc) (Morogoro, Mbeya, Coast and Arusha are hotspot land conflict zones) • Unwarranted evictions (of pastoralists) • Environmental degradation (where land is allocated without any LUP and/or EIA) • Potential food insecurity for communities

  14. 4.0 WHAT COULD BE DONE? 4.1 At policy level • Improve the land legal regime • Enshrine the land legal rights in the constitution • Amend and harmonize the conflicting laws on land and related resources rights (land, mining, wildlife etc) • Devolve more powers to the local governance organs (Village, Ward and district councils), • strengthen the institutional capacity of those organs to make informed decisions

  15. Policy… • Revisit the terms for land holding period. Is it still sensible to allocate land for 99, 66 or 33 years given the rapid population growth for both human and livestock. • Revisit the validity of CCROs in terms of their usefulness for land rights protection to a villager and for mortgaging. • Can the village entity better secure villagers rights than a CCRO given to individuals?

  16. To be done…4.2 At practical level • Public Sensitization – legal literacy on land matters ( for people to advocate for, demand and protect their rights) • Support implementation of the land laws (such as land use plan in villages- this will reduce land conflicts, pressure on environment and increase value of the land, increase access to justice). Will also speed up investment without land grab! • Enforcethelaw. defaulters and culprits must be punished

  17. 5.0 HOW? • Policy engagement- dialogues with parliamentary committees, relevant MDAs • Public mobilization for change – organize public debates in hotspot areas, national level stakeholders forum, media (plus social networks) based campaigns • Grounding the advocacy work at the grassroots levels (land rights training, para legal services, Land rights Monitoring etc) need to compliment each others efforts

  18. And what have you? myenzi@hakiardhi.org Dar es Salaam 10 May 2012

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