The United Kingdom should honour its commitments and compensate white Zimbabwe farmers who had lost land during the Zimbabwean land distribution programme, Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said on Monday.
He said issues of human rights and democracy should not be mixed up with the right of white farmers in Zimbabwe to compensation, he told journalists after a meeting between South African and Zimbabwean ministers in Pretoria.
”Let’s take the route of reason and try and persuade the British government to honour its agreement so white farmers in Zimbabwe do not suffer the trauma they are going through,” Mudenge said.
”They should not be made to suffer.”
He said the matter of compensation should not be confused the issues of democracy and human rights.
”Nobody is saying drop the issues of human rights and democracy. But let’s not mix that with the rights of white farmers to be compensated.”
Unlike the British government’s ”megaphone” approach, South Africa’s quiet diplomacy towards Zimbabwe has worked, Mudenge said.
”When your neighbour is down, you don’t drive a lorry over him, you give him a hand so he can get up,” he said. – Sapa