Jonathan Moyo, Zimbabwe’s information minister, denied on Monday that Robert Mugabe intended to nationalise all farmland, saying the policy only applied to plots seized from whites.
His statement contradicted that of John Nkomo, the land reform and resettlement minister, who last week said the state would nationalise all agricultural land.
Nkomo said Mugabe’s government would issue 99-year leases for farmland and 25-year leases for wildlife and conservation areas.
On Monday, Moyo said nationalisation ”only applies to land acquired by the state under land reforms and does not in any way invalidate or supersede other lawful forms of tenure”.
His statement suggests factions within Mugabe’s government are vying with each other over land policy.
In addition to publicly correcting Nkomo, Moyo recently lost a very public battle with another leading official.
Confusion has often surrounded Mugabe’s land seizures, with the government saying one thing but doing another.
Only 10% of farmland is in private hands but it includes large plantations growing tea, timber and sugar. Although Mugabe declared last year that land seizures had ended, the government has taken over more than 900 properties this year.
At Easter it took over Kondozi farm, a large business owned by a prominent black businessman, which grows and exports vegetables and fruits to British retailers including Tesco in contracts worth millions of pounds.
State agents invaded the farm, throwing 4 500 workers out of their homes.
The owner announced last week that he would move his business to Mozambique and Zambia. – Guardian Unlimited Â