Mugabe has vowed that his land seizures would proceed, in sharp contrast to the global political agreement (GPA) which calls for an end to the land seizures. The disbanding of the Namibia-based SADC Tribunal ruling, has accelerated the land grab.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai has demanded an immediate stop of the continuing land grabs and instead called for an immediate audit of all the land to ascertain who owns what. This will eliminate multiple ownerships and to ensure security of tenure for all farmers, black and white. Mugabe has blocked the land audit at every turn.
“Land distribution will continue!” Mugabe told his supporters in the farming town of Chinhoyi.
He spoke as veterans of the 1970s war against white minority rule in the former Rhodesia continued to evict the remaining 250 of the country's formerly 4,500 commercial farmers. The veterans have demanded land they say was stolen by the British from their forefathers in the 1890s.
“The few remaining white farmers should quickly vacate their farms, as they have no place there," Mugabe said. "I am still in control and hold executive authority.”
Tsvangirai has warned against the "wanton disruptions of productive farming activities" that are continuing, saying that they were threatening seasonal crop production.
"In our culture, as in our law, you cannot reap what you have not sown," Tsvangirai said. "In the GPA we have committed ourselves and our parties to recognising that all land is used productively in the interests of all the people of Zimbabwe. A farm is a business that should provide food for our nation, revenue to our economy and employment for our people."
Western donors have made respect for property rights, as well as for other human rights, a precondition for resuming development aid and pouring fresh funding into the agricultural sector – the backbone of the Zimbabwe economy.
The Prime Minister is frantically seeking help from abroad to compensate former farmers whose land has been seized and to provide much-needed support for new farmers.
Diplomats say Britain is prepared to unfreeze a £36m donation it pledged during a 1998 donors conference to help pay for land redistribution, but only once the illegal occupation of white-owned farms by the self-styled "war veterans" has ended.
Post published in: News