About 6 000 members of the Zimbabwean military are to receive plots under the government’s land reform programme, President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday.
Mugabe told thousands gathered at a Harare stadium to mark Defence Forces Day that some members of the military had been given land under the programme launched five years ago.
”I understand that close to 6 000 members of the defence forces are still to benefit,” Mugabe said.
”The responsible authorities are looking into the matter with a view to allocating land to these remaining deserving cadres.”
About 4 000 white-owned commercial farms were seized under the land reform progamme and given to landless people.
Mugabe also said that 600 military personnel would get new homes under the government’s housing reconstruction programme launched following the 10-week demolitions campaign that ended in late July.
Meanwhile, South African President Thabo Mbeki was engaged in discussions on Zimbabwe with a delegation from the SA Council of Churches (SACC) at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday night, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported.
The SACC requested the meeting to discuss a number of issues relating to the Zimbabwean socio-economic challenges.
According to presidential aides, the SACC wanted to discuss the United Nations report on Zimbabwe’s clean up operation.
About 700 000 Zimbaweans lost their homes or their livelihoods, or both, during the two-pronged Operation Restore Order and Operation Murambatsvina, according to a UN report released last month. – Sapa-AFP