Judgment No. CCZ 10/14 16 Constitutional Application No. SC 226/10 (c) a land settlement lease; and ‘lawfully authorised’ shall be construed accordingly; ‘offer letter’ means a letter issued by the acquiring authority to any person that offers to allocate to that person any Gazetted land, or a portion of Gazetted land, described in that letter; ‘permit’, when used as a noun, means a permit issued by the State which entitles any person to occupy and use resettlement land; ‘resettlement land’ means land identified as resettlement land under the Rural District Councils Act [Chapter 29:13].” The clear and unambiguous meaning of s 2(1) of the Act is that “lawful authority” means an offer letter, a permit and a land settlement lease. Nothing more, nothing less. A letter from the late Vice President, the Presidium or any other member of the Executive does not constitute “lawful authority” in terms of the Act. In the case of Commercial Farmers Union and Ors v The Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement and Ors supra this Court had this to say at p 19 of the cyclostyled judgment: “The Legislature in enacting the above provision clearly intended to confer on the acquiring authority the power to issue to individuals offer letters which would entitle the individuals to occupy and use the land described in those offer letters. The draftsman could have used better language to convey the legislative intent, but there can be no doubt that s 2 of the Act confers on the acquiring authority the power to allocate land using the medium of an offer letter. This provision is not in any way inconsistent with ss 16A and 16B of the Constitution. If anything, it fits in well with the overall scheme envisaged in ss 16A and 16B of the Constitution, which is that the acquiring authority acquires land and reallocates the land so acquired. The acquisition of land and its redistribution lies at the heart of the land reform programme. I have no doubt that the Minister as the acquiring authority can redistribute land he has acquired in terms of s 16B of the Constitution by means of the following documents -(a) an offer letter; (b) a permit; and (c) a land settlement lease. The Minister is entitled to issue a land settlement lease in terms of s 8 of the Land Settlement Act [Cap 20:01]. However, if the Minister allocates land by way of a land settlement lease in terms of s 8 of the Land Settlement Act he is enjoined to comply with the other provisions of that Act, such as s 9 which requires him to