Chapter 2:
Land Administration: Processes and Constraints
by
John Bruce, Fortune Kachamba, and Michelo Hansungule'
I. Current framework for land administration
All land in Zambia is vested in the president, in trust for the people of Zambia, under the
Land (Conversion of Titles) Act, 1975 (see p. 16), SECTION 4. The president has delegated land
administration to the Commissioner of Lands under Statutory Instrument No. 7 of 1964 and Gazette
Notice No. 1345 of 1975, as amended. Land in Zambia is divided into State (formerly crown),
Reserve, and Trust Lands, as well as park reserves.
The Commissioner of Lands administers the State Land, appropriated by the colonial power
for settlement of whites. The commissioner allocates this land as farms and agricultural smallholdings,
and as stands for buildings and other uses, all under leasehold. There is also a state-farm and
parastatal sector. The entire State Land amounts to less than 6 percent of the total land area of
Zambia, but it is relatively good-quality land, advantageously located near the rail lines. All land in
municipalities is also State Land. The larger municipalities now administer land independently under
the Housing (Statutory and Improvement Areas) Act, 1976, i.e., statutory land and housing land.
In the Trust and Reserve Lands access to land is governed by customary law and institutions.
The Reserve Lands were set aside for the original inhabitants of Zambia by the colonial authorities.
The Trust Lands were at one time destined for white settlement but white settlement did not
materialize to the extent anticipated. In both the Reserve and Trust Lands, land has been in the hands
of traditional land users. The government, following the example during the colonial period, has for
the most part continued to rely on traditional authorities for the allocation of that land to farming
households. However, the Commissioner of Lands also allocates land in these areas directly to other
users, such as outside investors.
The work of the MOL consists of the allocation, survey, and registration of leasehold titles
in the State, Trust, and Reserve Lands, and in both urban and rural land. Under the legal breakdown
of responsibilities, allocation is handled by the Lands Department (headed by the Commissioner of
Lands), survey by the Survey Department (headed by the surveyor general), and registration by the
Lands and Deeds Registry (headed by the Chief Registrar) under the Commissioner of Lands. See
figure 2.1 for an organization chart. Recently, the former minister created a committee chaired by the
deputy permanent secretary to review allocations, and asserted authority in the P.S. to make
allocations, but this has no basis in law.
' John Bruce is former director of the Land Tenure Center and adjunct professor in the College of Agricultural and Life
Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Michelo Hansungule is lecturer in land law, School of Law, with the
University of Zambia; and Fortune Kachamba is a senior legal officer in the Ministry of Lands.