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Land reform irreversible: Moyo
Herald Reporter
ZIMBABWEANS can now proudly claim they are an
independent nation following the successful completion of the land reform
exercise, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan
Moyo said yesterday.
He said this when he addressed a delegation of
senior military officers from the Nigerian War College who are visiting the
country.
The land reform exercise, the minister said, was irreversible
and anyone trying to do so would court the anger and wrath of the people.
"Not even a sellout government will be able to reverse the exercise.
There will be an uprising and real war," he said.
Prof Moyo said the
Government had put legislation in place that allows it to acquire land following
the failure of the provisions of the Lancaster House Conference and the pledges
by donors to finance the land reforms.
He said the Government only pays
compensation for improvements on the land such as dams and dip tanks.
The land itself will not be compensated for because it was stolen.
"We will never pay for the land because it was stolen from us. Since
when do you compensate thieves?"
Prof Moyo said the dispossession of
blacks from land by the colonialists was the greatest human rights abuse ever
perpetrated against a people.
He said Zimbabwe delayed the fast-track
land reform exercise primarily because during the first 10 years it respected
the rule of law as prescribed by the Lancaster House agreement.
In
preceding years, the Government heeded advice from regional leaders who argued
that taking back the land would stifle efforts to free South Africa.
Prof Moyo said soon after South Africa attained independence, land
reforms in Zimbabwe swung into full gear.
He said in the past four
years, beginning June 2000, the land issue has been on the forefront of
Zimbabweâs national politics, economy and international relations.
Prof
Moyo said the Lancaster House agreement and the donor conference of 1998 were
all wrong solutions to the land reform exercise.
"Now we have chosen a
method of our own and it has worked. We believe the essence of democracy depends
on who chooses the method," he said.
As a result, a lot of
misconceptions were peddled in an effort to demonise the exercise.
Countries such as Britain, the United States and remnants of white
Rhodesia had combined forces with non-governmental organisations and some
diplomats to tell a false story on Zimbabwe.
Prof Moyo said the false
stories had created "two Zimbabwes", one which is on the brink of war and is a
caricature of the white Commonwealth and another which is in the process of
concluding a historic moment to finish the business of making our country.
He dismissed perceptions that Zimbabwe was in conflict saying doing so
was trying to group the country together with crisis spots such as Sudan,
Liberia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and some countries in Eastern
Europe, the reason being to justify interference by the West.
"We are
not in conflict. We are in the middle of a historical process of democratising
and empowering our people," the minister said.
Later Prof Moyo met with
a Chinese delegation from Hebei Broadcasting and Television Technology Company.
The delegation visited Zimbabwe to explore ways of working together with
a view of upgrading the countryâs broadcasting services.
Hebei
Broadcasting and Television Company is working together with partners in
Zimbabwe such as Afritell, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, Transmedia and
Africom.
Prof Moyo commended the Chinese company and expressed hope that
the project succeeded.
The Chinese delegation leaves today and is
expected to draw a comprehensive proposal for the installation of fibre optic
cables covering the whole country.
Meanwhile, a visiting Nigerian
delegation says Zimbabwe is a peaceful nation contrary to media reports
emanating from some sections of international media about the land reform
programme.
Head of the delegation Air Commodore Abel Amomaiye said the
situation in the country is very different from what he had expected.
"When I saw my name amongst those of us who would come to Zimbabwe I
said to myself, but why me because the country is always portrayed as a trouble
spot alongside the likes of Sudan.
"I was however, surprised on landing
here that there is not the slightest of all that is written about the country in
some parts of the world," he said.
Air Com Amomaiye, who is leading a
group of Nigerian War College Students who are in the country for a
geo-political study tour of Southern Africa, was speaking at a reception held
for his delegation at the Army Headquarters recently.
Speaking on behalf
of the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, General Constantine Chiwenga,
the Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, Lieutenant General Phillip Sibanda
said the people of Zimbabwe were in the last stages of the third war of
liberation.
Aptly titled the "Third Chimurenga", its main aim was to
recover land forcibly acquired by the British colonialists from 1890 until 1979,
he said.
"You are all aware that Zimbabwe is a country born out of the
bitter armed struggle for Independence from British colonialism.
"Our
liberation struggle has equitable land redistribution as one of its major
objectives," said Lt Gen Sibanda.
It was that recovery of the land that
was at the root of the numerous negative reports in the international media.
The equitable distribution of land could not be carried out immediately
after 1980 owing to a restrictive constitution, he said.
"But today, 24
years later and after a lot of resistance from the British and their kith and
kin across the oceans and unfortunately from some of our brothers on this
continent, land has finally been redistributed to the majority."
He said
Zimbabwe was now independent and geared for better times in terms of food
security and those in the region.
Lt Gen Sibanda emphasised that the
Zimbabwe Defence Forces were fully behind the country and would not appreciate
solutions imposed from outside.
Turning to military co-operation between
Zimbabwe and Nigeria, he said the friendship between the armed forces of the two
countries dated back to the days of the liberation struggle when Nigeria gave
immeasurable support to Zimbabweâs liberation movements.
During the
early stages of the formation of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Nigeria continued
to provide military training to some senior and junior officers from the ZDF.
"It is against this background that we view this visit as very crucial
in the relationship of our two countries and indeed our forces," he said.
The Nigerian delegation is in the country until the end of the
week.
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri
Museveni, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans
l'anarchie"
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