Mugabe says farm invasion reports 'damned lies'

Mugabe says farm invasion reports 'damned lies'

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Posted to the web: 10/04/2009 00:58:59
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe vowed on Thursday to continue with the state's take-over of white-owned farms, despite rising tensions over a wave of evictions since a new power-sharing government took office seven weeks ago.

His remarks came amid a wave of seizures, evictions, theft of property on farms, attacks on workers and prosecutions of white farmers.

Mugabe called allegations of farm invasions "wicked lies" and insisted the appropriation programme was "legal".

Also Thursday, the Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said the country’s land reforms were irreversible.

In February a coalition government was formed between long-time foes Mugabe and opposition rivals Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mutambara, who both lead factions of the MDC.

That agreement, while stating land reform was irreversible, also specified that the new administration would ensure the rule of law was observed throughout the country.

Western donors have said they will hold back on helping to bail out the bankrupt government until there are clear signs that human rights reforms are taking place.

On Wednesday finance minister Tendai Biti, from the MDC, said he and the party were determined to "get Zimbabwe back on its feet again," but, he added, "We are very unhappy with the situation on the farms."

Mugabe told his party central committee: "Those who now wish to cause confusion by claiming there are farm invasions should be warned that their malicious and wicked lies will not deter government from its pledge to economically empower the people through legal means."

Addressing a youth conference in Harare on Thursday, Mutambara said: “The land reform is irreversible; there is no going back on our revolution. Yes, we might change things here and there, but we are not going back.

"Our friends in Britain and other Western countries should understand that we agreed in the Global Political Agreement that the issue of land was not negotiable.

"We now want to talk about productivity on the land, how can we improve yields per hectare?"

A "revolutionary land reform programme" launched by 85-year-old Mugabe in 2000 has seen about 12 white farmers murdered by Zanu PF militias, about a million workers made homeless and the collapse of an agricultural economy that once earned Zimbabwe the reputation of being Africa's breadbasket.

Human rights organisations say Zanu PF cronies have taken over the vacated farms, usually in violation of court orders to allow the farmers to stay.

White farmers' lobby groups say about 100 farmers have come under renewed pressure to force them off their land since the coalition government came into being.

Last weekend, Mike Campbell, 74, who has led a legal campaign to try to force the government to allow them to remain on their land and to ensure authorities protect them from persecution, was forced off his farm, Mount Carmel, the country's biggest mango producer, in the Chegutu district 100km west of Harare.

A relative of an elderly member of Mugabe's politburo kicked down the kitchen door and gave Campbell two hours to leave, said his son- in-law, Ben Freeth.

"There is chaos now, there is a total breakdown of law and order," he said.

Campbell's manager, Martin Joubert, and seven workers were arrested by police on allegations of "kidnapping" the team of invaders and are expected to spend the weekend in jail in Chegutu after a magistrate dismissed their application for bail.

Occupiers on the farm immediately began removing mangoes and selling them in the Chegutu market, he said. - Sapa-DPA
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