Zimbabwe’s land is managed under a complex mix of constitutional provisions, statutes, and customary practice. The 2013 Constitution and various Acts of Parliament define three main categories of land tenure – freehold (private), leasehold (state-resettlement), and communal – and set rules for each. Importantly, communal land (former tribal trust land) is vested in the President, but used by rural communities under customary law. Chiefs and village heads may administer communal land locally, but they do not personally own it but the problem to this system is that most chiefs don't have the full grasp of the law as recently witnessed in the Chief Murinye incident, where he blocked the road to stop parents going for opening day demanding some kind of payment for the Riverton school built in his area. In 2024, Zimbabwe’s Lands Permanent Secretary Mangwana emphasized that chiefs are “stewards, not sovereigns” of communal land – holding it “in trust for the true owners (the community)” – and that chiefs have no personal title over the land. These legal frameworks ensure that land serves the public interest and that ordinary occupants’ customary rights are protected.