The government announced that it will extend for another 30 days the deadline for the debate on the revision of the National Land Policy, at a time when it is the target of strong criticism from civil society.
The Minister of Land and Environment, Ivete Maibaze, said on Wednesday, March 23, that the deadline extension aims at listening to civil society, which has accused the Government of lack of inclusion in the discussions about that instrument.
“The Government, through the Ministry of Land and Environment, has created another space for public consultation, which will guide the management, administration and sustainable use of land,” Maibaze said, speaking at an event on the issue.
The leader said that the previous phases of public hearings took place in an atypical context, due to the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters and armed conflicts in central and northern Mozambique.
In the next 30 days, according to the minister, the Review Commission of the National Land Policy should ensure the inclusion in the preliminary draft of the prevention of sale, speculation and corruption in the land sector, as well as the strengthening of the protection of the rights of local communities, especially women in rural areas and young people.
Regarding the criticism that the debate has not heard all the involved parties, Ivete Maibaze noted that so far about 100 non-governmental organisations have been covered, in a process with about 800 agents that conducted activities throughout the national territory.
The Government justifies the relevance of the revision of the National Land Policy and Land Law with the need to promote a regulatory framework that ensures equitable access, secure tenure and sustainable use of land, at the service of society and the Mozambican economy.
Mozambican civil society organisations criticise the way the government has been conducting public consultations on the land legislation, suspecting that the alleged lack of transparency is due to the executive’s aim of accommodating only the interests of the private sector and multinationals in accessing and occupying land.
