#Jomic owns full

My observation has been that Jomic is not taking over the role of the police, the courts or the Ministry of Lands.Ĭases which have to be reported to the police must be reported, those in the courts will be handled by the courts and the Ministry of Lands, not Jomic, executes government policy on land reform and farm allocations and the issuing of offer letters. Where I have been able to comment on this question, the truth of it has left most of them disappointed. What do you tell him when at the end of his narration of the history of the farm he asks the Jomic team what he should do? “Should I continue farming or not?” asked several farmers we have visited in Mashonaland West, Central, East and Manicaland. He is excited about the Jomic team’s visit, clearly hoping that finally his “troubles” are over. It is these farm tours which have revealed a gap between what the media report and the situation on the ground, and the chasm between Jomic’s mandate under the GPA and people’s expectations on the acquired farms.įor instance, the most embarrassing question we have had to face is a farmer whose land was acquired by the state as early as 2002. We have complemented these initiatives through site visits to randomly selected farms from the list we have to find out the situation on the ground. Some farmers have personally brought their cases to our offices.

To date the only direct complaints the Jomic secretariat has received since it was set up in July have been about “fresh” or “continuing” farm invasions or “disruptions” from the Commercial Farmers’ Union. We believe it is because a majority of the people are not familiar with the provisions of the GPA that we have not been getting any direct complaints or comments about its implementation, except what newspapers tell them are the priorities. It is lack of familiarity with the provisions of the GPA which has led to either misdirected accusations against Jomic or misplaced expectations of its role and functions. It must then “sensitise” the principals to the GPA, President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara about these complaints and deficiencies in the implementation of the GPA. It is also there to receive complaints from any member of society or group, including political parties, about the implementation or lack thereof of the GPA. Jomic is in fact the collective face of the three political parties in action.Ī pivotal function of Jomic is to monitor compliance with the GPA. It is not clear why a committee composed of four senior members each from all the three parties to the GPA should be an agency of one of them. Many have called it a toothless dog or suspect it of being an agency of one party or the other.

Jomic has in the past few months been criticised for not “doing anything” or “not doing enough” to enforce compliance with the provisions of the GPA by the signatory parties. The three political parties themselves also undertook under the GPA to “channel all complaints, grievances, concerns and issues relating to compliance with this agreement through Jomic and refrain from any conduct which might undermine the spirit of cooperation necessary” to fully implement it.

Jomic is the “principal body dealing with issues of compliance and monitoring” of the GPA.

#Jomic owns full

In summary, the functions of Jomic are to ensure the full implementation of the GPA, create mutual trust between the parties, promote continuous dialogue and to receive “reports and complaints” relating to the implementation of the GPA.