As Zimbabwe marks the fourth anniversary of its land redistribution programme, there is concern about the impact this is having on the country’s environment. Many of the peasant farmers who were resettled on farm land forcibly acquired from white owners are starting to harvesting other resources instead.

The ”fast-track” land grab and resettlement the Zimbabwean government claims to have completed ”successfully” has been described as one huge national scandal. Reports say senior government officials and Zanu-PF politicians are displacing ex-combatants of Zimbabwe’s liberation war resettled during the controversial exercise.

The opposition call for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to hand over power has been echoed worldwide, but less anxiously than the unpublished demand from within the ruling Zanu-PF. A former army colonel, who refused to be named, said he foresaw a dramatic change after the forthcoming annual congress of the party.