Zim to give land to some whites
2007-01-23 10:06
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - Zimbabwe will return land to white farmers who have "good relations" with the government, the lands minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
"We are taking land from whites and giving it to landless blacks but we are also in the process of identifying white farmers so that they can retain some land or be allocated a portion of the land," the minister for Land, Land Reform and Resettlement, Didymus Mutasa, told The Herald, a state-run daily.
"We know those white farmers whom we have been working with, and our security forces would also assist us in this regard to identify white farmers who should remain."
Mutasa told the paper he had directed provincial government offices across the country to submit names of white farmers with whom they had "good relations" and who wanted to stay on their farms.
He warned the provinces against taking bribes from farmers seeking to be on the list.
"We are aware that some farmers might want to come back and want some provinces to believe that they have been working with the state. They should not want to seek goodwill today."
Zimbabwe launched controversial and often violent land reforms seven years ago, seizing land from nearly 4 000 white farmers for redistribution to landless blacks. There are some 500 white farmers remaining in the country.
Critics blame the land seizures for the slump in agricultural production, which has also compromised food security in the former regional breadbasket.
The critics also say some of the beneficiaries of the land reforms lack the means and skills to farm, while senior government officials and ruling party officials allocated vast tracts of land were letting their fields lie fallow.
Zimbabwe recently warned that farmers - both white and black - would be evicted from land they were occupying illegally.
Last year, at least 200 white farmers asked the authorities to restore their seized land or allocate them new farms, according to the Commercial Farmers Union, representing their interests.
- AFP