via Mugabe did not violate Constitution — Mnangagwa – DailyNews Live 12 July 2014 by Chengetai Zvauya
HARARE – Emmerson Mnangagwa, minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has defended President Robert Mugabe’s call to reprimand new farmers who were leasing out their farms to evicted white farmers.
Mnangagwa was answering MDC senator Lilian Timveos who questioned whether Mugabe was not acting outside the Constitution when he said no white person was allowed to own a farm during the ministers’ question time on Wednesday.
“I read in the press last week that President Robert Mugabe declared that no white person should own land in the country and this is unconstitutional as it is discrimination. Can you clarify on his statement?”
Mnangagwa denied that Mugabe made such a statement, saying he had only warned that some black land owners who were now giving the land to evicted white farmers were going to face the full wrath of the law.
“President Mugabe does not act outside the Constitution in denying anyone land who wants it whether you are a white farmer or not, we have some white farmers in every province,” Mnangagwa said.
“He said he does not want people to be giving land out to the white farmers. These people who are doing that are sell-outs who are counter revolutionaries and will be arrested if found as it is a criminal offence.”
The leader of government business in Parliament said Mugabe had forgiven the white farmers for colonial injustice that had been committed by their forefathers a century ago.
“They created a loot committee led by Courtney Selous of taking our land, cattle, goats and even our women, but we have forgiven them and taught them democracy on how to live together and distribute the land as we did through land reform programme,” Mnangagwa said .
“We had to correct that injustice through the liberation struggle and we took our land and staged the land reform programme which benefitted over 200 000 families instead of 4 500 white farmers who owned the majority of our land.”
Last week President Robert Mugabe issued a stern warning to Cabinet ministers who are in the habit of protecting the few remaining white farmers, saying he is going to descend heavily on them.
He spoke as he launched the new A1 settlement permit model at Chipfundi Resettlement Farm in Lions’ Den Mashonaland West. The 90-year-old strongman swore that no white farmer would be allowed to own land.
Mugabe said the remaining whites should make way for blacks who have not been resettled. He said he knew there were some ministers who were harbouring white farmers.
COMMENTS
Mmhh. Need to revisit the constitution
The character of Mugabe stands out here. His desire for status far outweighs anything on this world. For the love of status he is willing to pursue the world to its end. He has no love for anybody at all. I doubt if he even loves his own wife. Instead he hates the world for denying him his heart’s enduring desire for status. In Bona he now sees his only chance of redeeming his elusive dream. Meanwhile the pain of rejection has turned him into a vindictive personality. So dont ask me what happened to his speech of beating swords into ploughshares. It is to be seen in this self consuming pursuit for inclusion into the club of leading statesmen of the world. In compensation for being denied the love of his desires he has turned into a vindictive man.
Dear Mr Mnangagawa, you guys have violated everything. Open your bibles and begin to read the word with God’s eyes. This nation needs to repent; no repentance no restoration!
Mnangagwa is a stranger to the truth. He is another lying ZANU thief. Frederick Courtney Selous was a hunter, who operated under the protection of his friend Lobengula (who was no friend of the Shona people). Selous was a member of no committees, that was not the British way it is the Zanu PF way. Rhodes created the pioneer column that Lobengula allowed into what is now Mashonaland, and it was done by way of a company (the Chartered Company). The Administrator of what is now Zimbabwe (and director of the Chartered Company) was Leander Starr Jameson. He was also the first Chairman of the Bulawayo Golf Club, and is buried near Rhodes in the Matobo hills. Mnangagwa is a liar and always has been. He should be brought before the International Court at the Hague for crimes against humanity (the Gukuruhandi).
What a load of “Hog-Wash” Parroted by Manangagwa in line with ZANU-PF propaganda garbage devoid of historical fact to justify the blatant theft of the Commercial Farms which only covered 15% of the Land Mass of Zimbabwe and not most of the land as he claimed.
The campaign was plain and simply to obliterate commercial agriculture, under the guise of agrarian reform, but in reality in the interest of retaining power through illegal and violent means. A major part of this campaign has been incessant propaganda, based on distortions and lies, designed to give it respectability.
The first white hunters, traders and missionaries who, in the 19th century came to the region that was to become Rhodesia and subsequently Zimbabwe, found a land devoid of infrastructure. The wheel was not yet in use. Early travelers recorded traveling often for days without seeing any human habitation. With a population of about a quarter of a million people at the time, indeed most of the land was not occupied. Commercial farming started in the 1890s on what was, for the most part, virgin land. There were no demarcated farms or boundary’s, no roads or railways, there was no electricity or telephone; there were no fences, boreholes, pumps, windmills, dams, irrigation schemes; there were no cattle dips, barns or any other farm buildings.
From this starting point, fraught with difficulties, agriculture developed faster than it had anywhere else in the world. The agricultural infrastructure was rapidly developed and soon the country became self-sufficient in most agricultural products. In many cases yields per hectare and quality equaled or bettered those in the developed world.
The benefits accruing to the country from the commercial farming sector extended far beyond the value of agricultural products and employment. The farmers contributed to the leadership, fabric and welfare of society out of all proportion to their numbers. It was largely this fact that was to make them the prime target of a government desperately clinging to power. Each farm was, to a greater or lesser extent, an outpost of civilization. Many farms established schools for the children of their workers. Virtually every farm was a clinic and dispensary and ambulance service for the surrounding areas. The relationship between farmer and worker was more intimate and benevolent than in any other industry. Commercial farmers tended to be exemplary neighbours to the communal area peasant farmers, providing unpaid help in many ways. It was from the agricultural shows organized by farmers that the Central African Trade Fair grew.
All these contributions to the growth of the economy and the welfare of the country emanated from fewer than five thousand farmers, on less than 15% the land.
Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the land (William Jennings Bryan, 9 July 1896).
How prophetic these words are proving to be for Zimbabwe. In making this statement, however, Bryan could never have dreamt of a government purposefully destroying its own farms.
What constitution, it’s not worth the paper it is written on.