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willingness to personally occupy and develop the holding, and his or her capital resources and
qualifications to develop an agricultural holding (SECTION III.17). Preference is to be given to
applicants who do not already hold State Land (SECTION III.18). Once an allotment is made and a rent
level set by the board, the lease is executed by the president in whom the title is vested. This authority
has been delegated to the Commissioner of Lands. In case of failure to comply with the provisions
of the act or conditions of the lease, the board, after giving written notice of the failure and providing
an opportunity for remedial action, may terminate the lease. Upon termination, for expiry or other
reasons, the minister on the recommendation of the board authorizes compensation for unexhausted
improvements (SECTION III.22). However, the act envisages the renewal of most expiring leases
(SECTION 111.30).
The Land (Conversion of Titles) Act of 1975 (CAP 289, hereafter referred to as the
Conversion Act) vested all land in Zambia absolutely in the president (SECTION 4) and converted all
freeholds into leaseholds (SECTION 5). The act converted any fee simple titles or leaseholds still in
effect at the time of the act to leaseholds not exceeding 100 years (SECTIONS 5 and 6). Upon expiry,
a lease may be extended for a further 100 years or less as the president may see fit (SECTION 12.i).
Lessees are not entitled to assign, sublet, mortgage, charge, encumber, or part in any way with the
holding without the prior written consent of the president in writing (SECTION 13.1). The president
is also granted powers of fixing the maximum amount to be received, recovered, or secured for land
(SECTION 13.3). However, in fixing prices, the president must disregard any value of land apart from
the unexhausted improvements thereon (SECTION 13.3). 10 Thus, idle land without improvements
cannot have value, and the benefits of investments in land accrue to the leaseholder, but not the value
of the land created by location or presence of public investment. Mortgages on land are possible but
only on the value of unexhausted improvements on the land (SECTION 10). Also, the minister may,
by regulations, prescribe the maximum area of agricultural land, and different maxima may be so
prescribed for different areas, districts, or provinces (SECTION 17). Further under the First Schedule
to the act, the lessor or the state maintains the right of possession of all mineral oils and precious
stones and right of entry on all lands to prospect for and mine such minerals (SECTION iii.3). Also,
the lessee is not allowed to let the land remain idle for a period of more than three years except with
written consent of the lessor (SECTION III.6).
These two acts in effect create two systems of review and control of leases and leasehold
transactions: State Land "scheduled" under the Agricultural Lands Act; and other State Land. In the
first case, any leasing of land must first be approved by the Agricultural Lands Board, then referred
to the Commissioner of Lands. As regards State Lands not scheduled under the Agricultural Act, the
board has no role. Here it is the Commissioner of Lands, acting under delegated authority of the
president who approves or refuses applications. As Bruce and Dorner (1982) suggest, there is no
logical basis for this distinction between "scheduled" and "unscheduled" State Land, and consolidation
is advised. Also, improvements on the leasehold must be valued to comply with the legal requirement
Michelo Hansungule (personal communication) of the School of Law, University of Zambia, asserts that the use of the
term may rather than must or shall implies that the president need not set prices in every case. If a maximum price is not set,
then the provision does not come into play. SECTION (13(3) theoretically would allow a transaction where a willing buyer and
a willing seller freely negotiate a price without recourse to the president, but the law has been neglected in practice. In
Hansungule's view, SECTION 13(3) was intended to allow the Commissioner of Lands to decide whether a presidential invitation
to fix prices was warranted, and, if so, a price would be set without regard to land value. However, successive commissioners
apparently read the provision as applying to all land probably because of the prevailing mood against land markets and concerns
of land speculation at the time.