Speaking at a workshop to familiarise civil servants, the business community and Zanu (PF) officials on what is expected of them under the government’s economic blueprint, Nhema said government’s efforts to improve people’s lives were being hampered by the country’s failure to produce enough food.
“If you do not make the best out of what you have, then how can we as a nation better the lives of our people? You were provided with the land, given equipment and inputs, but some of you are doing nothing on those farms,” he said.
Most of the resettled farmers had sold everything and were busy running down the farms, added the minister. “You cannot even afford to grow the right crops suitable for your region. So what are we doing? Can we go anywhere like that? It’s bad. We must love our nation, we must love each other and have one purpose if we want Zim-Asset to work,” he said.
The Confederations Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has urged the government to consider delisting farms grabbed under the controversial land reform programme and return the title deeds to commercially viable companies.
In an interview Henry Nemaire, the deputy president of CZI , said the land was earmarked for compulsory acquisition under the Agrarian reform, rendering the companies still on the land incapable of putting long-term plans into effect.
“Government should restore full ownership of some rich agricultural land in Manicaland to its more productive former owners,” he said, adding that this would allow the agricultural firms to use the title deeds to access funds from financial institutions like the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank.
The land resettlement programme, hailed as a big success by the Zanu (PF) government, impacted negatively on production as most farms, which used to produce for international markets, have since been occupied by war veterans and top party officials who have little or no agricultural skills or experience.
Post published in: News
“If you do not make the best out of what you have, then how can we as a nation better the lives of our people? You were provided with the land, given equipment and inputs, but some of you are doing nothing on those farms,†said Minister Nhema.
The regime has poured billions of dollars in buying the equipment and inputs for these good-for-nothing farmers year after year for the last 15 years and yet year after years they have failed to produce anything. This was economically unsustainable and the chickens have finally came home to roost!
The greatest irony of this situation is that government has already ended the subsidies on which most of these Zanu PF cronies were now totally dependent throwing them into poverty. The prospect of now being forced off the farms, with no prospect of getting a job, must be a nightmare comparable only to that the white farmers themselves faced when they were forced off the farms. The one was forced off the farm by greed and now the greed are being forced off the farm by their own incompetence!
As my late mother would say, “Munda hauzvirimi!” (Farms do not farm themselves!) It is only right that farms should be given to those who are best able to use this key asset to good use for the good of the nation.
We serve an Almighty God, who is a God of Justice and righteousness….in the Bible read Micah 2v1-2 “What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans. You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so. When you want a piece of land, you find a way to seize it. When you want someone’s house, you take it by fraud and violence. You cheat a man of his property, stealing his family’s inheritance..”
Thanks for such a knowledgeable post.
Thanks for such a knowledgeable post.