Chairman of the Land Tenure Technical Committee : Two things guys. Hwani, when you refer to this critical committee, never leave out the adjectival technical ahead of committee. That is what it is: A technical committee. Generally and in Government especially, technical committees assemble expert knowledge on a matter, which is why they are an implementing arm of the executive. Usually the full committee would be full of sector leadership, which is largely made up of politicians and senior officers. The LAND TENURE COMMITTEE as described above would refer and turn to the TECHNICAL COMMITTEE for expertise and implementation. Cde Tagwirei heads the LAND TENURE COMMITTEE in that respect.
WHY HIM? I have read all sorts of conspiracies over this appointment. Of course such conspiracies, including some court actions, arise from cheap politics and ignorance of CDE Tagwirei. Many today know him as a businessman and a philanthropist. Indeed he is both those things. What many do not know is that he has been a CAREER BANKER - take note, A CAREER BANKER!! This is key to understanding his appointment. WHY A CAREER BANKER? Precisely because a key jinx of Zimbabwe’s Post-Land Reform Programme has been RELUCTANCE BY BANKS to lend to THE NEW FARMER, citing RISKS.
The foremost risk identified and dramatized to Government was the fact that by vesting LAND in the STATE, Government destroyed the land market and, with it, the WHOLE INSTITUTION OF TITLE, itself the cornerstone of PROPERTY RIGHTS and TRANSFERABILITY under CAPITALISM. Banks argued they could not treat LAND REPOSED IN THE STATE THROUGH THE PRESIDENT as an ASSET which could be used as COLLATERAL in their dealings with new farmers. From the FIRST REPUBLIC right through to the SECOND REPUBLIC, Government tinkered with paper related to land hoping to come out with a BANKABLE DOCUMENT which would give banks comfort. It did not matter how much TINKERING happened, BANKS FLATLY REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE THAT PAPER.
The reasoning was simple: as long as land could not TRANSFER in the event of a DEFAULT by a borrowing new farmers, land could not offer security to the lender, giving rise to EXPOSED LOANS! So amount of tinkering with OFFER LETTERS did it for banks, meaning the only source of funding for new farmers was the State! This gave rise to what we popularly call QUASI-FISCAL SPENDING, which destabilized the whole economy. Meanwhile, LAND could not appear on the balance sheet of Zimbabwe to the extent it had been removed from the equation as an ASSET!
Land became a DEAD ASSET, all the worse for the national Balance sheet. To cure this, the President had several sessions with bankers, both organized and singly, to unlock this troublesome jinx. It became clear to Government that inordinate fear of reversibility of land reforms had stopped Government from reaching the penultimate stage of LAND REFORMS, namely that of restoring TITLE to beneficiaries of Land Reforms, thus ushering in AGRARIAN REFORMS. In typical bite-the-bullet management style which those of us who have worked with President ED know him for, a decision was taken to terminate the STATE as the UNIVERSAL LANDLORD by restoring TITLE to beneficiaries who could borrow, sell, buy or transfer land as an asset.
To CHAPERON this DELICATE PROCESS, the President turned to an EXPERIENCED BANKER to chair the TECHNICAL COMMITTEE of the TITLE DEED ISSUANCE PROCESS. That banker was and is none other than KUDAKWASHE TAGWIREI, the man most of you know as a businessman and philanthropist. Today be bridges Government and the Banking Community through the TECHNICAL COMMITTEE he leads. To show the way in the BANKING SECTOR, Government tasked two leading banking institutions: AFC and CBZ to lead the charge in recognizing this new arrangement. Tagwirei has an interest in the latter, while Government is the sole shareholder in the former. I hope this elaborate explainer helps you understand why KUDAKWASHE TAGWIREI IS PLAYING. Jamwanda writing on X
0 comments:
Post a Comment