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As a result of overcrowding and resource degradation in the reserves, and demands by
Europeans for more land for settlements, Governor Young in 1938 introduced a new concept of Native
Trust Lands. Unlike its predecessor in Nyasaland, which declared the whole of unalienated land as
Trust Land, it was decided in Zambia that areas of alienated land which showed promise for European
farming and mineral deposit would be retained as crown land. Once ecological and geological surveys
determining these criteria were completed, the remainder of the land would be declared Native Trust
Land. By the 1947 Trust Land Order in Council, 57 percent of the country was declared Trust Lands,
and the net area under crown lands was subsequently reduced.
The above restrictions pointed out for the reserves do not apply to Trust Land areas. The
administration of Trust Land is governed by the Zambia (Trust Land) Orders, 1947 to 1964
(hereinafter referred to as the Trust Land Orders). The president can grant a Right of Occupancy of
up to 99 years to a non-Zambian and demand rent for the use of the land. While Zambians and district
councils can own title, non-Zambians are also allowed provided that they qualify as investors or are
approved by the president as provided under Act No. 15 of 1985. While fee simple and rights of
occupancy with rent are mentioned, the president now makes such grants in leaseholds. No transfer
of Trust Land to anyone for more than 5 years is valid without consent of the president. Further
restrictions are placed on transfer, disposal by will, and subdivision. The governor (forerunner to the
president) more or less enjoyed the same powers of administering land as in the reserves. The two
provisions—99-year leases and grants of land to nonnatives—imply a felt need to distinguish between
the Reserve and Trust Lands. As with the reserves, interests and land rights in the Trust Lands fell
to customary law and administration thereof to traditional authorities (chiefs).
While the Conversion Act would seem to invoke fundamental legal changes in the Reserve and
Trust areas, it was enacted without repealing the Orders in Council. The practical effect has been that
land matters in Reserve and Trust areas continue to be interpreted in light of the orders. Under the
Local Administration Act, 1980 to 1992, chiefs were statutory members of rural councils, a policy
followed by the 1985 administrative circular in which the Department of Lands stipulated the
requirement of consent of the chief before an application of leasehold on customary land. This
arrangement has essentially afforded customary leaders a legalized means of effectively resisting land
alienation, which according to Zambia's National Farmers Union is an important factor underlying
the low rate of land alienation in Reserve and Trust areas.
The policy of land reservation through the Native Reserves and Trust Lands did not until
recently apply to land in Barotseland proper. According to the Barotseland North-Western Rhodesia
Order in Council of 1899, land in the central regions of Barotse were set apart for the litunga and
their people. Under the terms of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964, the litunga 's powers over land
in Barotseland as governed by customary law were recognized and guaranteed, as they were in
ARTICLE 8(2) of the Independence Constitution of 1964. Land in Barotseland continued under the
domain of the litunga and Lozi customary law until the Western Province (Land and Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act of 1970 which vested all land in Western province in the president as a reserve under
the State Lands Orders. Regardless of these legal changes, the traditional authorities in Western
province have been the most reluctant to encourage or permit their subjects to hold state title deeds
(personal communications, Commissioner of Lands). The litunga is in fact issuing title deeds that,
while offering proof of customary rights, have no legal grounding in the eyes of government. There
is substantial evidence (see Times of Zambia, 25 May 1993) of tensions emerging between local and
central authorities over control of land rights.