/ 21 July 2006

Zimbabwe resumes halted land allocations

Zimbabwe has resumed land allocations after they were halted by a corruption audit of the process, Harare’s Herald newspaper reported on Friday.

Its website said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe announced this at the opening the 2006 annual chiefs’ conference in Kariba on Thursday.

He said there was still plenty of land for resettlement and invited all those who were in need to apply urgently.

”We had stopped to audit the programme. We are now beginning to give offer letters. This means people who want to benefit should bring up their names. There is a lot of land that was not taken,” he said.

Mugabe said the audit had revealed that only 40% of the allocated land had been taken up, adding that under the new allocations, consideration would be given to future generations.

Mugabe said in the past, some people were given land on the basis of their ambition but ambition alone was not good enough.

”You need capability, money and labour. Not everyone can be a farmer,” he said. — Sapa