Land Reform: Ball in Britain's Court
The Herald (Harare)
November 8, 2002
Harare
The Government has completed the land reform programme and it is now up to
Britain to pay compensation to white commercial farmers whose farms were
acquired for resettlement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Stan Mudenge said
yesterday.
"We have completed the land reform programme, and it is now up to the British
government to assume its responsibility to compensate the commercial farmers,"
Dr Mudenge told journalists at a European Union-Sadc ministerial meeting in
Maputo, Mozambique.
"We just want justice for the white farmers," he said.
Dr Mudenge said compensation could be made directly to the farmers, through
former colonial power Britain and Zimbabwe, or through the United Nations.
In terms of the constitution, the Government pays compensation for developments
made on the land while Britain, as the former colonial power, must compensate
farmers for the land acquired for resettlement.
Last month, outgoing Commercial Farmers Union director Mr David Hasluck attacked
Britain for causing a diplomatic stand-off with Zimbabwe that resulted in
farmers failing to get full compensation for land acquired for resettlement.
He told a visiting New York City Council fact finding delegation to Zimbabwe
that British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government had failed to acknowledge
the historical background to the land reform programme that required it to pay
the compensation.
The Government has resettled at least 300 000 people under the Model A1
villagisation scheme and close to 50 000 under the Model A2 commercial farm
scheme under the agrarian reform programme which notable players in the
international community such as the UN have said was now irreversible.
In recent meetings with Zimbabwe, the UN's concern has been how the newly
resettled farmers could be assisted to use their land productively.
Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano opened the meeting, which was originally
scheduled in Copenhagen, Denmark but switched to Mozambique after Sadc
threatened to boycott it if Zimbabwe was barred from attending.
Top Government officials and senior Zanu-PF members have been barred from
travelling to European Union countries as part of a campaign by the British
influenced EU to halt the land reform programme and prop up the opposition MDC.
Sadc foreign ministers indicated at their meeting in October that they would not
attend the meeting with one of their members absent. They emphasised that Sadc
was made up of 14 members and if the EU had a problem holding the meeting in
Denmark they could move to Maputo or cancel it.
"Sadc could not go to Denmark without Zimbabwe. Sadc is not 11 or 12 or 13
members. It is all 14 of them, Zimbabwe included," Dr Mudenge said.
President Chissano said the meeting was "an opportunity for the EU and Sadc to
deepen their mutual understanding and appreciation of ongoing processes in
Europe, the Southern African region and the world at large.
"We consider dialogue as one of the most important pillars of cooperation, as
through it, we can have an opportunity to clarify issues and positions, to
consolidate partnerships and reach consensus on matters of mutual interest," he
said.
EU Commissioner Mr Poul Nielson, in a speech at the meeting, hailed recent peace
initiatives in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from which he
said, the southern African region would reap dividends.
The EU has been a long-time partner to southern Africa, especially in providing
development aid and technical assistance.
The meeting comes at a time when a famine gripping nearly half of Sadc's 14
member countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe -
threatens almost 15 million people with starvation.
Other Sadc members are Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Seychelles, the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa and Tanzania.
The talks are also intended to focus on democracy and stability, poverty
eradication, economic development and trade. - Herald Reporter/AFP.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ivinicus factus sum veritabem diceus." ( I have become an enemy for speaking the truth ) St Paul!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mitayo Potosi
_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
