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being granted, transferred, alienated, or leased to non-Zambians, and repeal of Section 10 of the 1975
Land Act which stated that bare land per se has no commercial value (Place and Twinomukunzi
1993)27)17 Furthermore, reentry of private real estate firms would be encouraged to improve land
market efficiency. Other reforms were proposed that would be initiated within a period of one year:
(a) Combine Reserve and Trust Land categories into a single customary land category; (b) allow for
uniform 99-year leaseholds on all land; 18 (c) identify unutilized land to be made available to all
investors; 19 (d) permit mortgaging and leasehold transfers of one year to take place without
presidential consent; (e) formally recognize customary rights; ZO (f) increase the rent or tax charged
on leaseholds; (g) extend an automatic renewal of 99-year leaseholds provided that lease conditions
are met; (h) facilitate requests for leaseholds in customary land; (i) allow for leaseholds of separate
units in buildings; and (j) repeal all undesirable land legislation and replace with two primary acts:
Land Act (covering State Land and Customary Land) and Registration Act. With respect to land
delivery, the MMD called for decentralization, creation of a land development fund (LDF) for local
public investment from ground rents, and acceptance of cheaper survey techniques.
A number of papers referred to "major land reforms" being undertaken in the longer run
without specifying their nature. The conference concluded with 10 resolutions or principles on land
tenure presented in figure 1.2 (the entire text of the resolutions is reproduced in annex 1.1 below).
'7 A lively debate followed on the issue of opening land to foreigners. Chiefs and church groups expressed serious concerns
about "truckloads" of foreigners seeking land and the risk of wealthy foreigners and rising land prices resulting in a high degree
of foreign land control.
18 Lengthy debates followed on the issue of leaseholds versus freehold. Many professionals and the Farmers' Union asserted
the need for freehold property to minimize insecurity as the expiration of the leasehold draws near, and out of distrust that
government would not keep its pledge for automatic renewal. Counter arguments were raised by nearly all political parties that
the freehold system would create dispossession for the poor, lead to excessive concentration of land holdings, and result in
underutilization of land. Fear of foreign control was a principal factor in support of leaseholds over freeholds.
19 Some participants argued that rights exist over almost all land in customary areas, and some chiefs questioned whether
land in customary areas can be found without disturbing villagers. The MMD assured the chiefs that villages would not be
disrupted, while at the same time chiefs were charged by government officials and the church as being greedy or uncooperative
in helping to locate land for resettlement or allocation.
20 One proposal from the Faculty of Law called for a Record of Rights in rural areas that would simply record existing rights
to land.