THE Zimbabwean government had dropped nine farms owned by the South African Oppenheimer mining dynasty from a list of commercial farms to be seized for land redistribution, the state-controlled Herald reported on Thursday. “Some 180 farms, among them six owned by foreign nationals and nine belonging to the Oppenheimer family, have been spared from acquisition,” the report said. The de-listing came in the wake of representations by diplomatic missions lodged with the ministry of foreign affairs to have them spared, it added. – IRIN