BWAHHAHAH! How shortsighted could your policies be! To go through all that, kill people to drive them off and all sorts of atrocities, and then ask them to return? LOL!
The hubris and ignorance of these political leaders know no bounds. [Mugabe Offers Ruined Farms Back To Whites >From Jan Lamprecht AfricanCrisis.Org 4-26-6 BBC News 4-25-6 Zimbabwe has confirmed that it is offering land to white farmers who had their property seized under President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme. Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC any Zimbabwean can apply for land and that farms would be allocated on long leases. But he said that farmers would not necessarily get back land they lost. Critics say the reforms have devastated Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy and led to massive food shortages. On Friday, the Commercial Farmers" Union said 200 white farmers had applied for land over the past two weeks. In 2000, there were some 4,000 white farmers working on much of the best land. Just 300 remain after a campaign of often violent land seizures. The Zimbabwe government is portraying white farmers as having finally come to their senses, accepting that they cannot resist Mr Mugabe's land reform programme. "They are begging us for land," Mr Matonga told the BBC. But BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says hard facts have driven this policy U-turn. By confiscating the white-owned commercial farms, the government transformed a country that was once the breadbasket of Southern Africa into a net food importer. And despite good rains there is every prospect of another deficit over the coming season, our correspondent says. Mr Mugabe has admitted that there was corruption in the distribution of the farms seized from the whites. Poor blacks farmers, in whose name the land reform was carried out, were often left to fend for themselves. Without capital, implements or seed, many failed to use the land productively and agricultural output has collapsed. Tobacco used to be Zimbabwe's major export earner but production has fallen from 237m kg in 2000 to 73m kg last year. The white farmers are being invited to apply for land on the same basis as other Zimbabweans. Successful applicants will be given 99-year leases. The unclear legal status of the farms is another factor in the declining agricultural output, which the government hopes will soon be solved. Zimbabwe is now poorer than it was at independence in 1980, after it had survived 16 years of sanctions and eight years of civil war. Mr Mugabe says his policy is designed to reverse colonial policies, which saw blacks evicted from their land and moved into marginal areas. He says Zimbabwe's economic problems stem from a western campaign to bring down his government.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:205814 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
