Zimbabwe white farmers say invited to take up land
Fri Apr 21, 2006 4:50 PM GMT


HARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's white farmers said on Friday they had been invited to apply for land, a move that could mark a major policy shift by the government which had vowed not to return farms seized from whites.

Since 2000, President Robert Mugabe's government has taken over thousands of white-owned commercial farms after backing often-violent invasions led by veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule.

Critics say the programme has destroyed the key agriculture sector and contributed to food shortages which have hit the country, once a regional bread basket.

On Friday the mainly-white Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) said it had been invited to submit applications to run farms under Zimbabwe's new policy of granting 99-year leases.

It said it had already sent more than 200 applications to the government on behalf of dispossessed farmers and that more were still coming in.

"We have held meetings with the relevant government ministries and there is an understanding that our members want to play a significant role in agriculture production, food security and generation of foreign currency for the country," Trevor Gifford, CFU vice-president told Reuters.

"It is within this context that we were invited to submit the applications and I do know that instructions have been given to provincial land committees to process the applications and we are now awaiting responses," he added.

If the applications are granted it would be a climb down by Mugabe's government, which had previously said it would not return land to white farmers.

Mugabe's government says the land seizures were necessary to redress ownership imbalances created by Britain's 1890s colonisation of the southern African country.

Last July, Zimbabwe Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who also holds the land reform portfolio, told state media that the country's land belonged to blacks and that the government would not be "inviting any white farmers back."

Mutasa could not be reached for comment on Friday, but told delegates at a ceremony to launch a new economic revival programme earlier this week that "there is definitely no going back on our policy on land."

Critics say the land seizures have reduced Zimbabwe's commercial agriculture by 40 percent, hitting exports and partly causing food shortages that have gripped the country since 2001.

Agriculture output fell by 12.8 percent in 2005, but government officials say the sector will grow by 9 percent this year, boosting the ailing economy.

Last week, a state-run provincial newspaper said the government was repossessing 231 under-utilised farms in the eastern Manicaland province from blacks, who analysts say have struggled with shortages of fertiliser and seed as well as lack of commercial farming skills.

Zimbabwe is in the throes of a deepening economic crisis, highlighted by shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and food, the world's highest inflation rate at 917 percent and rising unemployment.

Grass huts and subsistance farming not filling the gov't coffers, eh?

I haven't found the principle yet that Mugabe won't bend for a buck or two.

Bring them back and kick them out again?

I wonder if this is in part to soften internation sanctions -- or if he thinks the time has not yet passed to save his devistated economy. I wonder if he realizes how much such a "savlation" depends on his good name and the trust people will put in his word. At the same time, the offer seems to be in the form of 99 year leases. No real ownership?

Dan


Same story BBC style: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4932060.stm

Zimbabwe 'asks farmers to return'
Zimbabwe's white farmers say they have been invited to apply for land - in an apparent U-turn by the government which has seized their land.

All but 300 of the 4,000 white farmers have been forced off their land since President Robert Mugabe started his "fast-track" land reform in 2000.

A farmers' leader says some 200 applications have already been made and more are coming in.

Critics say the reforms have devastated the economy and led to massive hunger.

Foreign currency

Much of the formerly white-owned land is no longer being productively used - either because the beneficiaries have no experience of farming or they lack finance and tools.

Many farms were wrecked when they were invaded by government supporters.

The government has admitted that the exercise has been beset by corruption.

But Mr Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's economic problems on a plot by Western countries to topple him.

"There is an understanding that our members want to play a significant role in agriculture production, food security and generation of foreign currency for the country," Trevor Gifford, Commercial Farmers' Union vice-president told Reuters news agency.

"It is within this context that we were invited to submit the applications and I do know that instructions have been given to provincial land committees to process the applications and we are now awaiting responses," he said.

'No going back'

Didymus Mutasa, the minister in charge of land reform, could not be reached for comment.

But on Wednesday he said: "There is definitely no going back on our policy on land."

He also said that 99-year leases for commercial farms would be distributed by June, which he hoped would lead to higher agricultural output.

Earlier this year, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told the BBC News website that any Zimbabwean was free to apply for land, whether white or black, as long as they used it.

Under colonial rule, the best agricultural land was reserved for whites - a policy which Mr Mugabe says he is trying to reverse.

But many white-owned farms were highly mechanised, productive businesses which formed the backbone of the economy.

The opposition says Mr Mugabe is using the land to buy votes.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Go tell Mugabe,to eat shit and die..

God Bless Rhodesia
and Ian Smith

Are they also going to "invite" back the Selous Scouts ?

If you fall for that BS, your Daddy raised a damn fool.

As a couple of my Rhodesian er um Zimbabwean friends have stated "Steal from me once shame on you, steal from me twice..."

quote:

Originally posted by 4t1mag:
Go tell Mugabe,to eat shit and die..

God Bless Rhodesia
and Ian Smith

That pretty much says it all

I cannot believe how some Rhodesian ex selous scouts ,sas ,rli ,cannot organize and kill that communist racist dictator.Juan

Don't hold back Juan, tell us how you really feel.

David

Well Mad Mike O`Hoare would do nice there or a Kidon team aswell, but there should be possible to use that despot as lion bait

And thanks to the norwegian Goverment who has finaced him for many years.

Iam ashamed over that , can i write a book about it later " The African day of the Jackal"

someting has to be done there, What has happened to Rodesia the last 25 years is just terrible, i hope that it will be better and his reign is soon ower.

I am with Juan!

The whites of southern Africa need to unite and form their own country.