via Govt audits black-owned farms in Masvingo | The Herald October 9, 2013
Government has started auditing more than 25 black-owned farms in Masvingo East district where some of the indigenous owners are suspected of fronting white former farmers in a bid to circumvent the land redistribution programme.Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora yesterday said the results of the audit were expected to be out at the end of this week.
Cde Mombeshora said Government would never tolerate a situation where blacks front white former farmers saying those caught in the audit net would lose their farms instantly.
He said the agriculturally-rich Masvingo East commercial farming region was the only area being audited in the country after it surfaced that the majority of new black farm owners fronted white former farmers.
“The exercise (audit of farms) is going on in Masvingo East and if they are any fronts, they will be flushed out and the land will be redistributed to landless people in the province (Masvingo). We will never tolerate people who front white farmers when our people are still in need of land.
“So far allegations of blacks fronting white former farmers have been reported in Masvingo East only and nowhere else so this audit is not a national exercise but peculiar to Masvingo East district only and by Friday this week we should have a report of the state of the situation on the ground,’’ he said.
Minister Mombeshora said the black farm owners in Masvingo East were supposed to show proof of having purchased the farms in question from white former farmers by producing documents like title deeds and receipts showing how they paid for the properties. He said the fate of hundreds of land-hungry villagers from areas such as Zaka, Bikita, and Gutu who invaded most black-owned farms in Masvingo East, after raising allegations of fronting white farmers, would be decided after audit results are out.
Minister Mombeshora said he was on a familiarisation tour of all the country’s eight provinces to carry out an assessment of challenges around the land reform programme with a view to find solutions over some land hot spots.
So far he has already been to Masvingo and Manicaland provinces and would continue with his visit to other provinces in the coming few days after which his office would have a full picture of the state of affairs across the country on land issues.
COMMENTS
Why does ZANU-PF fear the white man so much. Do they believe a white man is better than us????
ZANU pf does not fear the white man. They think that if they show this hatred people will support them. They want us to think that we are failing as a nation economically because of the sanctions imposed by the white. They want us to hate the white man just to avoid their failure in moving the country forward. People know the culprits
Ko kwenyu kuMashonaland mapedza? siyanai nesu! chamunoda chii? minda yacho haisi kushanda here? I am sure you will say a farm that is doing well is a whiteman’s front…and you will not be bothered by the land lying fallow, isnt it? you are worried by the ones that look green, right?
Kana mumwe mutema akaita sahwira wechirungu zvashata nhai.Ko madzisahwira enyu vana Mahomed Moosa, De Dricks muMasvingo,Reutenbach hamuvabati sei? Ndopamakaita kusakwana,kungofunga kuti sahwira wechirungu anofanira kuva waMugabe chete vamwe havabvumidzwi.What does the constitution say about freedom of association?Mombeshora tiitire steady.Vamwe vakamanya vachiti toenda kundogadzirisa musangano kuMasvingo, nhasi vari kuHeroes.Iyi iyambiro, iti fare fare tindike
Well said Gorongoza! Farms lying fallow should be taken away and redistributed so that crops are grown to feed the millions that are starving! Time for Zanu PF to get over their hatred of white Zimbabweans. What bloody difference does it make whether or not it is a black, white, yellow or pink person farming, as long as they manage the land properly and grow the economy of the country.