Reuters

Zimbabwe to evict illegal game farm settlers
Wed Jun 8, 2005 10:41 AM BST
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will evict people who illegally settled on
wildlife sanctuaries during seizures of white-owned farms but did not say
whether former owners would be allowed back, state media reported on
Wednesday.

"Our major challenge is to ensure that there are no people who have
encroached on animal corridors," Environment and Tourism Secretary Margaret
Sangarwe told the official Herald newspaper.

The state Herald newspaper said the "government will soon evict all people
who illegally settled on wildlife conservancies."

The state has seized most land owned by 4,500 white farmers under
controversial land reforms over the last five years.

But squatters have also occupied game farms and reserves, and
conservationists have reported rampant poaching and deforestation in a
country famed for its wildlife.

Squatter settlements in reserves are regarded as another blow to a once
thriving tourism industry which has contracted sharply in the wake of
sometimes violent land seizures.

"We recently made our final presentations to the Cabinet in line with the
Wildlife and Land Reform Policy which states that conservancy areas,
forestry land and plantations should also be occupied by indigenous people
in a manner that ensures the protection of wildlife and environment,"
Sangarwe said.

Sangarwe said the government also planned to give 25-year leases to new
black game farmers. Sangarwe was not immediately available for comment.

Last month central bank Governor Gideon Gono urged President Robert Mugabe's
government to allow some white farmers back on land seized for
redistribution to blacks to help revive a collapsing economy.

Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by more than 30 percent since 1999 and critics
point to the government's land seizures for accelerating the collapse of the
once prosperous economy.

Mugabe denies charges that senior members of his ZANU-PF party have grabbed
lucrative game farms but says land reforms were necessary to redress
ownership imbalances created by Britain's 1890s colonisation of Zimbabwe.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

quote:

Mugabe denies charges that senior members of his ZANU-PF party have grabbed
lucrative game farms but says land reforms were necessary to redress
ownership imbalances created by Britain's 1890s colonisation of Zimbabwe.

Poor Old Britan, you guys are getting kicked in the GUTS yet again ...

Well I guess your esteemed PM Tony Blair will soon be giving away your tax dollars again in his great programme for lifting Africa out of poverty ... I wonder if Robber BOB will benefit from the package of reforms ...

I (stole this one from Terry) because it is so very very true ...

a liberal is a person who feels compelled to right all the inequities in society with someone else's money ...

Peter

These statements were made about 3 years ago to the UN.
__________________________________________________

Africa is seeking increased foreign investment and better economic growth - but the continent's leaders made it clear that they want to find their own solutions.

"Africa's future will be determined by Africans," said the UN's General Secretary, Kofi Annan.

"Africa is seeking to lift itself by its own bootstrap," Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo told the general assembly on Sunday.

South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, has already called on the international community to help end the continent's humiliation as "an object of charity".

"As Africans, today we stand in front of the peoples of the world to make the pledge that we'll honour the commitment we have made to ourselves and the world, that we'll act firmly to extricate Africa out of her long night of misery," Mr Mbeki told the assembly.

_________________________________________________

Then why do you need the West to double it's foreign aid? Let Africans solve Africa's problem by pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps so they are no longer an object of charity. Words from the Africans - money from the West, same song - different verse.

Regards,

Terry

quote:

Then why do you need the West to double it's foreign aid? Let Africans solve Africa's problem by pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps so they are no longer an object of charity. Words from the Africans - money from the West, same song - different verse.

Terry

My thoughts are because in our LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES we have created in the WEST there seem to be MANY MANY whom want US ALL to feel guilty for some so called past sins of our ancestors, and the bleeding heart LIBERLS feel that you and I are a pack of redneck SOB whom dont have any compassion, when they are tooo thick to understand that the money (in the main) goes into Bureaucracy and propping up the IDI AMINS of this world whom live a wonderful life while holding their hands out to our SUCKER GOVERNMENTS

Peter

Amen Terry and Peter.