WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-07-23 Time: 09:00:01 Posted By: News Poster
By Tabitha Mutenga
But that vision has turned into something else as the indigenous black people turn on each other over these scarce resources for reasons ranging from sheer greed to politics gone mad.
Greediness has taken over from the national spirit of equitable land distribution as black versus black farm invasions continue to distort what many nationalists fought for during the liberation struggle.
When the land reform programme started in 2000, it was a simple case of blacks taking away land from whites. However, that did not solve the hunger for land because several land disputes involving ZANU-PF bigwigs, either in an attempt to purge some unwanted political elements in the party or through greed, have now become common place.
The land reforms have presented new opportunities for those with insatiable greed for land.
Examples of black versus black land invasions read like chapters of an epic novel.
Kondozi Estate, owned by one Edwin Moyo, was one of the most viable horticultural enterprises in the country before some ZANU-PF politicians descended upon it in 2005.
The fact that Kondozi was an Export Processing Zone-registered firm did not save its operations from takeover. In the end, Moyo lost his horticultural producing enterprise simply because some predatory individuals wanted to take over the horticultural export business, which generated at least US$15 million per year.
The 224 hectare property lies idle today after it was stripped of its agricultural equipment and machinery.
Another land wrangle between Justice Chinembiri Bhunu and Lovemore Gwanzura over the 350 hectare Daskop Farm in Marondera is raging on.
The recent invasion of Waltendall Farm in Marondera belonging to Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Tracy Mutinhiri, sticks out like a sore thumb.
Mbuya Nehanda, one of the country’s first heroes who shouted as she was being hung to death: “My bones shall arise again,” must probably be squirming in her grave as kith and kin turn swords on each other.
The dispute has exposed the ugly side of the resettlement exercise as top ZANU-PF officials dispossess each other.
Many cases have also gone unreported especially when they involve small farmers who are now facing eviction simply because there is one “important” person who wants that land.
The seizure of black owned properties has created anarchy in the whole land reform programme and emphasised the need for a land audit to be carried out.
Political analyst, Alois Masepe, said the only genuine land reform in Zimbabwe was last executed in 1982.
“In 2000 there was no land reform strategy because it was only a group of people that decided to grab farms and call it land reform. Land reform strategy is formulated by experts, who advise on the infrastructure, what, or who goes where and it is supported by a budget, but as a country we have not done that,” Masepe said.
According to Masepe the land invasions on indigenous people are a result of a patronage scheme that defines its friends and foes and this system regulates itself when it identifies an enemy.
“If the same system defines you as an enemy it automatically throws you out and severely punishes the traitors,” he said.
University of Zimbabwe political scientist, Eldred Masunungure, said the whole situation was regrettable as it confirmed the observations by land reform critics that the whole programme was never about empowerment but about advancing a political agenda.
“The recent occurrence of land invasions on black owned properties shows that the beneficiaries were selected on political background instead of rationale and national planning and those who are labelled as enemies bear the consequences by being dispossessed of their land,” said Masunungure.
“The whole drama is really unfortunate as it does not advance national interest as all defiant ZANU-PF officials will definitely face the full wrath of the militia,” Masunungure said.
Zimbabwe inherited a highly unequal land ownership pattern from Rhodesia. By 2000, 70 percent of the richest farmland remained in the hands of 4 500 white commercial farmers.
The fast-track land reform redistributed much of the commercial farmland to thousands of households.
With black turning on black for the same finite resource, the land question is likely to remain at the core of the political tensions in Zimbabwe because those who are being disposed today still hope to get back onto their land tomorrow.
Original date published: 22 July 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201107230013.html?viewall=1