President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has ordered top officials in his party to relinquish farms if they have acquired more than one under a controversial land reform programme, a newspaper said on Thursday.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted a spokesperson for Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) as saying Mugabe issued the directive at a politburo meeting on Wednesday.
”President Mugabe said he would not allow people to have more than one farm,” Nathan Shamuyarira told the Herald.
”He advised those with multiple farms to choose one and give up the rest to the government for resettlement,” he added. The paper reported that Mugabe wanted the farms to be relinquished within two weeks.
Mugabe’s government, which launched a fast-track programme of acquiring white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks in 2000, has been criticised for allowing ruling party members to take prime farms.
The 79-year-old Mugabe appointed a Land Review Committee earlier this year to investigate multiple farm ownership, among other tasks.
Aid agencies say the land reform programme, which has seen the majority of Zimbabwe’s 4 500 white farmers evicted from their land, has contributed to food shortages threatening 5,5-million Zimbabweans, or about half the population, with famine. – Sapa-AFP