/ 21 September 2000

‘NO NEED FOR PRESSURE ON ZIM’

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has told parliament there is no need to put pressure on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe over the seizure of white-owned farms, saying illegal land seizures should not be tolerated, but the redistribution of land left in white hands as a legacy of colonialism had to be addressed urgently. Mbeki repeated that if there were any illegal land occupations in South Africa the police would deal with them accordingly. He has come under fire from opposition politicians for South Africa’s soft approach towards Mugabe’s land reform plan. – Reuters