🇿🇲 EDITORIAL | Land, Ownership & the Battle for Zambia’s Soil
Parliament has taken a necessary step by adopting a motion calling for a review of Zambia’s legal and administrative framework governing land acquisition by foreign nationals. The debate touches a nerve that has been building quietly across the country: who truly owns Zambia’s land, and under what conditions?
Land remains Zambia’s most sensitive national asset. Mines can be exhausted, oil wells can dry up, but land defines sovereignty, agriculture, settlement and national identity. Once alienated or mismanaged, reclaiming it becomes legally and politically complex. Public anxiety about foreign land acquisition has therefore been growing, particularly in areas where citizens increasingly feel priced out of their own land market.
Kamfinsa Member of Parliament Christopher Kang’ombe, who moved the motion, framed the issue clearly before the House. Citizens, he said, are beginning to question whether the current system adequately protects their access to land. The concern is not about investment itself. The concern lies in enforcement and transparency within the land register and related investment approval systems.
“Investors secure licences through the Zambia Development Agency on the promise of injecting capital into the economy, but later fail to meet those pledges. Land acquired under unfulfilled investment promises should revert to the State for reallocation to Zambians,” Kang’ombe told Parliament.
Those words capture the heart of the debate. Zambia’s land laws already allow foreign participation under specific conditions. Investors may acquire land through approved investment licences, corporate structures or joint ventures with Zambians. Problems arise when the regulatory chain breaks. Weak monitoring allows land to move from the national land register into private hands without the promised factories, farms or jobs ever materialising.
Corporate structures have also become a grey zone. Kang’ombe called for an audit of companies registered through PACRA, warning that some entities may be using complex shareholding arrangements to bypass the legal requirement that companies accessing certain land opportunities maintain at least 75 percent Zambian participation. When ownership becomes opaque, the land register stops reflecting the true beneficiaries of national assets.
Another growing concern lies in the use of cooperatives as vehicles for land acquisition. On paper, cooperatives represent local participation and community development. In practice, allegations have surfaced that some structures are effectively controlled by external interests while appearing locally owned. Such arrangements distort the original intent of land policy and undermine citizen access.
Support for the motion reflects a broader shift in Zambia’s land politics. Population growth, urban expansion and agricultural demand are placing unprecedented pressure on land supply. Real estate values in peri-urban areas are rising rapidly while rural customary land is increasingly being converted into titled investment blocks. Citizens are beginning to ask whether the benefits of these transactions are reaching them.
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Sylvia Masebo struck the right balance in her response to Parliament. Zambia must remain open to foreign direct investment, she said, because investment brings jobs, infrastructure and economic growth. At the same time, investment cannot come at the cost of citizens losing access to their own land.
“Foreign direct investment plays a critical role in job creation, infrastructure development and economic growth. However, investment must not undermine the land rights of our citizens or compromise national interests,” Masebo told the House.
Policy clarity now becomes the next step. A stronger land register system, stricter monitoring of investment pledges, clearer corporate ownership transparency and periodic land audits would significantly strengthen confidence in the system. Proposed amendments to the Lands Act must address enforcement gaps rather than merely restating existing principles.
Land policy ultimately sits at the intersection of economics and national identity. Zambia must welcome investment, but it must also protect the integrity of its land register and ensure citizens remain primary beneficiaries of the country’s most permanent resource.
Parliament’s motion signals that the conversation has finally moved from public frustration into legislative attention. The real test will be whether that attention produces reforms strong enough to restore public confidence in how Zambia’s land is managed.
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