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No land for whites, Mutasa declares
Kumbirai Mafunda & Zhean Gwaze, The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
October 26, 2006

http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=1818

STATE Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is in charge of resettlement, has ruled out giving back any land to former commercial white farmers, in remarks that sharply contradicted the pronouncements of a fellow minister and plunged the government’s already chaotic land reform programme into even murkier waters.

Mutasa this week told The Financial Gazette that the government will not allocate farms to dispossessed white farmers, 200 of whom had submitted applications to be allocated land.

"We are taking land from white people, and then the same white people are applying for land. So which land are they applying for?"

Mutasa’s utterances are at variance with those made recently by his subordinate, Flora Buka, the Minister of State for Special Affairs Responsible for Land, Land Reform and Resettlement, who a fortnight ago told an agricultural conference in South Africa that the government was considering allocating land to former white farmers.

"As regards white commercial farmers, there are some who have indicated that they would want to continue farming," Buka said. "Their applications are being considered. If they are willing to stay, that is also going to be considered. Also, the amount of land they have is also going to be considered."

Mutasa’s declarations are also inconsistent with the recent actions of his own ministry, which earlier this year invited white farmers to apply for offer letters.

The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU), which represents the interests of mainly Zimbabwe’s white commercial farmers, said between 900 and 1 000 farmers have applied for A2 farms since government embarked on the "fast track" land reform programme in 2000.

Prospects for white farmers’ return to the land looked even bleaker last week as farmer groups reported that ZANU PF loyalists had forced more than 100 farmers to cancel their harvesting and cropping, with the start of the summer planting season looming.

The CFU said the government was aware of the situation on the ground as the union constantly engaged the authorities to map out a way forward and restore sanity to the sector, once the economy’s backbone.

"We are constantly in negotiations with all stakeholders and we are in the process of developing a recovery programme. We have also engaged the international community of which some are willing to pledge support if the situation calms down," a CFU official said.

If passed, a pending Land Bill, which is still before the senate, could see most of the white farmers facing criminal charges punishable either by a fine, a custodial sentence of up to two years or both.

Zimbabwe defends the land seizures as necessary to correct a historical imbalance that reserved the best land for whites while cramping blacks on poor, sandy soils. But critics blame a large part of the severe food shortages seen over the past six years on the chaotic manner of the government’s land redistribution exercise.

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