• Mugabe blasphemy story journalist brutally attacked
• Zimbabwean police hit MDC offices
• Mugabe in SA on secret visit
• Banking breakdowns
• US Travel Warning Angers Zimbabwe Government, Police
• Nigerian leader insists Mugabe is prepared for 'formal talks'
• Commonwealth chief urges Zimbabwe talks
• Daily News gets breathing space
• Lawyers attack Herald retraction
• Whose bidding is Mbeki doing?
• We must interrogate what our leaders tell us
• The Media Monitoring Project Weekly update
• SA rejects US 'land grab' claim

Zimbabwean police on Friday raided the offices of the country's main
opposition party, the MDC, in search of "subversive publications". This
comes a day after Mbeki proudly announced that talks between the MDC and the
ruling party of Mugabe aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis would
start "soon".

"More than 15 police officers, some in riot gear, raided the MDC
headquarters in Harare this afternoon and carried out some search of what
they claimed to be subversive material," MDC spokesperson Paul Temba Nyathi
said in a statement.

He said that after about an hour of combing through the offices, the police,
who had a search warrant, took away "a lot of our party material which is
neither subversive nor prejudicial to the state in any way".

Documents taken away included the party policy document, in-house magazines,
workers' telephone contact books and personal documents belonging to MDC
staff.

"After encouraging remarks by (South African) President Thabo Mbeki
yesterday (Thursday) indicating a commitment by (President Robert) Mugabe
and (ruling) Zanu-PF towards entering into a process of dialogue, this
latest anti-democratic act is a setback towards creating an environment
conducive for meaningful inter-party dialogue," said Nyathi.

Mbeki Thursday announced that talks between the MDC and the governing party
of Mugabe aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis would start "soon".

MDC officials said although the party had always been ready for dialogue
with Mugabe, there has not been much on the ground to show from government
that it was now ready to formally meet the MDC.

Mbeki told reporters in Pretoria: "I'm pleased to say the two sides have
agreed to enter into formal negotiations. They will soon enter into formal
negotiations." - Sapa-AFP

Banking breakdowns

Financial and political casualties mount as the struggle to succeed
President Mugabe intensifies

Political kingpin Phillip Chiyangwa has plenty of enemies but his arrest on
10 January on charges of obstructing a police probe into banking corruption
has rocked the political establishment. Member of Parliament for Chinhoyi
and an ally of presidential contender Emmerson Mnangagwa, Chiyangwa's status
as a distant relative of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe and also Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front Chairman in Mugabe's Mashonaland West
Province seem to have convinced him he was untouchable. Senior Zanu PF
officials have seized on his arrest as proof that the government won't
protect its own in its efforts to crack down on corruption. This follows
several embarrassing revelations about cronyism in the land resettlement
programme and signs that more than a third of banks are near to collapse.
Police say Chiyangwa was arrested because he tried to protect two Directors
of ENG Capital Asset Management, Nyasha Watyoka and Gilbert Muponda, who are
charged with defrauding investors. ENG crashed last December after failing
to account for Z$61 billion (US$ 1.1 bn. at the offical rate, $136 million
on the street.) of investors' funds. The ENG contagion could spread: three
other asset management companies to which it was linked are being probed.
Chiyangwa's supporters claim a political frame-up. His arrest quickly
followed a statement by Vice-President Joseph Msika (who was acting
President while Mugabe travelled to Malaysia ­ in search of a retirement
home, say optimistic oppositionists) promising that the government would
deal with wayward politicians abusing their influence and powers. Chiyangwa
is seen as a strong supporter of Mnangagwa's claims to the post-Mugabe
succession. Mnangagwa's key rivals ­ Defence Minister Sidney Sekeramayi and
ZANU Chairperson John Nkomo ­ won't shed any tears over the arrest of a
Mnangagwa cheerleader such as Chiyangwa.

      Copyright © 2004, Dow Jones Newswires

      HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)--Zimbabwe's Foreign Ministry and police reacted
angrily to the U.S. State Department's warning to U.S. citizens to leave the
southern African country because of the security situation, a state-run
newspaper reported on Saturday.

      "It is a deliberate distortion of the facts, bent on destroying the
tourism industry which is on the mend," Pavelyn Musaka, a Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman told daily newspaper, The Herald.

      Despite the killing early this week of a white farmer, police
superintendent Oliver Mandipaka denied there had been any increase in crime.

      "We are able to contain the situation to maintain peace and stability.
We have never regarded criminals as a threat. This country is one of the
safest places in the region," he said.

      Francis Ngwenya, president of the Hospitality Association of
Zimbabwe - representing hoteliers and restaurateurs - said they wouldn't be
affected by the advisory since they had shifted their focus market to Asia,
in line with recent calls by President Robert Mugabe.

      "The country's tourism industry would not be affected if Americans
leave," he said.

      Reporting the murder on Monday of Peter Sivertsen on a farm near
Kwekwe, 200 miles southwest of the capital, the Commercial Farmers Union
deplored "the current spate of criminal activity and general lawlessness."

      Last month, an Australian accountant was abducted from a tea estate in
Zimbabwe's eastern districts, forced to drink acid and killed.

      On Thursday, the U.S. State Department warned citizens: "Commercial
farms should be avoided at all times, especially those occupied by settlers
or so called war veterans, who are typically young government supporters
acting with impunity outside the law."

      Urging U.S. citizens to consider "departure from the country," the
State Department said the economy was "in precipitous decline with extremely
high rates of unemployment and inflation.

      "The humanitarian crisis is expected to worsen in the coming months
and may lead to unrest and possible large scale migration of Zimbabweans to
urban or border areas, with further disruption and an increase in crime and
instability."

      Since early 2000, a "fast track" land redistribution program has seen
the seizure of former white owned farms and a cut in food production by more
than half.

      Western observers have rejected parliamentary and presidential polls
in which Mugabe claimed victory, alleging widespread rigging and
intimidation.

      Police late Friday raided the downtown Harare offices of the main
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said party spokesman
Paul Themba Nyathi. Police left with bundles of documents but made no
arrests, he said.

      (END) Dow Jones Newswires

      January 24, 2004 06:53 ET (11:53 GMT)

Nigerian leader insists Mugabe is prepared for 'formal talks'

The Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday compounded confusion
over Zimbabwe by re-asserting that its government and opposition had agreed
to formal talks, despite categorical denials by both sides. His claim that
discussions aimed at ending the long-running political crisis had been
agreed came the day after a similar suggestion by President Thabo Mbeki of
South Africa spread bewilderment and irritation among Zimbabwe's opposition.
Senior officials of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said their
side had made no agreements on formal talks beyond a promise, made 18 months
ago, that they would be prepared to negotiate as long as there were no
pre-conditions. "The only contact we have had is in parliament where we
shout at each other," Didymus Mutasa, Zanu PF's external affairs secretary,
said. Mr Obasanjo, visiting London as chairman of the Commonwealth, said he
had "been left in no doubt" when he went to Zimbabwe before Christmas that
both sides had embarked on "informal talks". "I heard after CHOGM (the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in December) that they had agreed
to turn the informal talks into exploratory talks - and more recently formal
talks - during which they will discuss issues of a new constitution, land
reform and the structure of a future government."

Mr Obasanjo's claims left Western diplomats puzzled. "No one has been able
to verify that even talks about talks have been taking place and we are as
puzzled as anyone about these claims," a Commonwealth diplomat said. An MDC
spokesman, Paul Thmeba Nyathi, said: "The MDC has always been ready to talk,
but nothing is happening, not even informal contact." Mr Mbeki has been
accused at home and abroad of being an apologist for Zimbabwe's president,
Robert Mugabe. Hoping to show his soft approach was paying dividends, Mr
Mbeki has repeatedly told Western leaders, most notably President George W
Bush, that a resolution to Zimbabwe's political impasse would be reached by
July following secret negotiations. Analysts believe Mr Obasanjo's backing
of Mr Mbeki's unsubstantiated claims was not merely based on a need to
demonstrate solidarity with his fellow African leader. "The only explanation
that makes any kind of sense is that Mbeki and Obasanjo have been given
confidential undertakings by Mugabe that he will embark on talks with the
opposition," said a Commonwealth official. Weighing on Mugabe's mind may
also be the need to demonstrate some kind of compromise by the time the
European Union meets next month to decide whether to renew sanctions on
leading Zanu PF members.

Yesterday, the offices of the MDC in Bulawayo were raided by detectives who
said they were looking for "weapons of war". The MDC's justice spokesman,
David Coltart, said: "Police from the Law and Order section are at our
offices, and say they are looking for subversive documents and weapons of
war." The raid comes a day after all MDC MPs walked out of parliament after
a deafening row broke out in the chamber when they were called "enemies" of
state by Patrick Chinamasa, leader of the house and justice minister. Police
also broke up a meeting of mainly opposition supporters at a hotel in Harare
city centre this week, saying it might endanger "national security".

      LONDON : Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon welcomed a report
that formal talks between political rivals in Zimbabwe would start soon to
resolve the country's crisis.

      McKinnon was speaking after a meeting in London with Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo, who suggested that any talks in Zimbabwe could
be a first step towards the country's re-entry to the Commonwealth.

      South African President Thabo Mbeki announced Thursday that formal
talks between the ruling party of Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe and his
arch-foe Morgan Tsvangirai would be held "soon".

      But Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
dismissed Mbeki's remarks as "nothing new".

      McKinnon said Friday: "It has always been our view that substantive
talks between the MDC and (Mugabe's) ZANU-PF are a prerequisite to anything
that can happen in Zimbabwe to alleviate the present position.

      "If this is beginning to happen now, then that is a very, very good
sign."

      McKinnon added: "Ultimately, we do want to see evidence of what is
emerging from these talks."

      Zimbabwe was plunged into crisis after Mugabe's re-election in polls
in March 2002, which the opposition and international observers said were
rigged.

      Mugabe pulled Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth, a club of mainly
former British colonies, on December 7, angry at its decision to prolong his
country's suspension from the grouping.

      Obasanjo, who is currently the chairman of the Commonwealth, said in
London: "If we have a situation where the government and MDC are working
together, agreeing a new constitution, formally endorsing that new
constitution and moving on, then we will have left the realm of conjecture
and promises and come back to the realm of action and reality.

      "I believe such action and reality should enhance the possibility of
re-entry of Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth."

      Obasanjo also indicated that he was opposed to any move to pull
England's cricket team out of a tour of Zimbabwe planned for November.

      "I believe that sport should be used as an instrument of friendship,
an instrument of cooperation," said Obasanjo, adding that "sport can be used
to warm up the frostiness in the political relationship."

      The England and Wales Cricket Board have set themselves a deadline of
next Thursday to decide whether they will go ahead with the Zimbabwe tour or
bow to pressure to pull out because of international concerns over Mugabe's
regime.

      - AFP

      THE Daily News will be able to continue publishing pending a hearing
next week on applications brought against its parent company by the Ministry
of Information and the government-appointed Media and Information Commission
(MIC), lawyers said after a hearing in the High Court yesterday.

      An agreement was reached yesterday in High Court judge Rita Makarau’s
chambers to consolidate two separate applications brought before the court
by the MIC and the Information Ministry.

      Justice Makarau indicated that the consolidated application would be
heard in the High Court on Wednesday or Thursday next week.

      “The parties consented to consolidate the two matters since the relief
being sought was the same,” ANZ legal adviser Gugulethu Moyo told The Daily
News.

      The Ministry of Information and the MIC, which last year denied ANZ
the registration it needs to publish its newspaper titles, had sought an
order barring ANZ from publishing The Daily News and its sister paper, The
Daily News on Sunday.

      Commenting after yesterday’s hearing, Moyo said the two publications
would be able to continue operating unless a court order barred them from
doing so.

      She said: “What this means is that we can continue publishing until
the matter is heard next week. Until there is a court order that alters our
current legal position, we are free to publish.”

      A visibly disappointed Tafataona Mahoso, chairman of the MIC, told The
Daily News that the Commission had wanted the matter to be heard earlier
than the Wednesday or Thursday indicated by the judge.

      Shaking his head and throwing up his arms, Mahoso said: “That is what
the judge has ruled and there is nothing we can do about it. We would have
preferred an earlier date, either Monday or Tuesday. If that is the date we
have been given, we still take it.”

      The MIC last September denied ANZ registration, saying the publishing
company had been operating unlawfully because it did not seek registration
as required by the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).

      Under AIPPA, all journalists and media houses must register with the
MIC so that they can operate in Zimbabwe.

      Ruling last October on an appeal by ANZ against the MIC’s decision,
the Administrative Court said the MIC was improperly constituted and that a
properly constituted Commission should grant ANZ a licence.

      During appeals by the MIC, the ruling has been upheld by the
Administrative Court, and the High Court has also twice ruled that ANZ
should be allowed to publish its newspapers.

      On Wednesday, High Court judge Tendai Uchena ordered the police out of
ANZ’s head office and printing factory, an order the law enforcement agents
have complied with, enabling the company to resume publishing.

      The police have previously prevented publication of ANZ’s titles,
despite court orders in favour of the company.

      The United States government and local civic groups this week
commended Justice Uchena’s ruling, urging the Harare authorities to
re-examine AIPPA.

      The US State Department said in a statement: “We hope that the
Zimbabwean government will address the flaws of the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act, which has been used as a pretext to shut down
The Daily News and arrest editors and journalists of the Zimbabwean
independent newspaper.”

      “We applaud The Daily News’ perseverance and determination in the face
of the Zimbabwean government’s actions to gag the paper since September, in
defiance of three court orders instructing the police to vacate the
newspaper’s premises and allow publishing to resume.”

      The State Department added: “We hope this development signals a
positive change in Zimbabwe’s approach to rule of law and freedom of speech
issues.”

      Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary-general Wellington
Chibhebhe said: “The ZCTU takes this opportunity to applaud the efforts of
the ANZ to put The Daily News back on the streets. Their perseverance and
belief in the court shows in them a patriotic stance in their endeavours to
exercise the freedom of expression as well as being great proponents of
democracy.”

      Staff Reporter

      LAWYERS for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday protested to
Judge President Paddington Garwe that the State-controlled Herald newspaper
had not given due prominence to a correction it ran yesterday of a
misleading headline on a report it ran on Thursday on Tsvangirai’s on-going
trial for treason.

      South African George Bizos, who is leading Tsvangirai’s defence team
told Garwe: “My Lord, the paper did not give the correction due prominence
to the publicity it got on that front page story. Other papers have
correctly reported on the matter, including a paper I have with me here.”

      Acting Attorney General Bharat Patel, who is representing the State in
the case against Tsvangirai, told the High Court that the publication by The
Herald on page two of its edition yesterday of a correction of the headline
in question was sufficient.

      On Thursday, Garwe conceded to claims by defence lawyers that The
Herald had misrepresented the proceedings of the court by implying that
Tsvangirai had implicated the United States government in an alleged coup
plot.

      The Herald, which is Zimbabwe’s second largest circulating daily paper
after The Daily News, published a correction in its issue of yesterday but
tucked it on page two, a move which riled Tsvangirai’s lawyers.

      During cross-examination by Patel, who is representing the State,
Tsvangirai said his party, the Movement for Democratic Change, had taken
legal action against some misrepresentations by papers in the Zimbabwe
Newspapers (Zimpapers) group.

      The government, which is the majority shareholder of Zimpapers,
exercises tight control on the group’s titles through the Department of
Information in President Robert Mugabe’s office.

      Tsvangirai said: “Since the MDC was formed the State media has
vilified my person and that of my party. Their lack of objectivity has
become legendary.”

      Quizzed by Patel why the MDC was not challenging the articles that
vilified him in court, Tsvangirai responded: “We will be in court on a daily
basis if we challenged everything that is published by The Herald and The
Sunday Mail. The papers have discredited themselves.”

      Tsvangirai is being tried for treason for allegedly plotting to
assassinate President Robert Mugabe in the run-up to the presidential
election in 2002.

      The opposition leader has vehemently denied ever plotting to kill
Zimbabwe’s ageing President.

      MDC’s secretary general Welshman Ncube and Renson Gasela, the party’s
shadow minister for agriculture, who were initially charged together with
Tsvangirai of plotting Mugabe’s murder, were acquitted last year.

      Asked if he was not gullible in committing US$500 000 (Z$412 million)
to Rupert Johnson, who allegedly represented Dickens and Madson, the
Canadian-based consultancy firm the state he hired to eliminate Mugabe,
Tsvangirai said being gullible was not criminal.

      “Johnson was a long time friend of Gasela and payment of money was
done with the approval of the MDC’s secretary general,” Tsvangirai said.

      The MDC leader disputed an assertion by Patel that The Daily News,
South Africa’s Mail and Guardian, The Financial Gazette and Zimbabwe
Independent had similarly taken an oppositional stance to the government
when the MDC emerged in September 1999.

      The trial continues on Monday.

      Staff Reporter

      ZIMBABWEANS must be wondering: whose bidding is South Africa’s
President Thabo Mbeki doing?

      The South African leader once again told the world that the
politics-induced humanitarian disaster gripping Zimbabwe was set to end
because the ruling ZANU PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) would soon enter negotiations to end the crisis.

      Addressing journalists in front of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
earlier this week, Mbeki said: “I’m happy to say that they (ZANU PF and MDC)
have agreed now that they will go into formal negotiations. I’m saying that
I’m quite certain that they will negotiate and reach an agreement.”

      Clearly words that should be cause for celebration by Zimbabweans
across the political divide.

      Except that long-abused Zimbabweans have heard exactly the same words
coming from the same man and all to no avail!

      Last year, when American President George W Bush was cranking up
pressure on President Robert Mugabe and his government over their failure to
uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law, Mbeki virtually
single-handedly saved the Zimbabwean government from the wrath of the world’
s sole

      superpower.

      Just as he did with Schroeder – who as leader of Europe’s biggest
economy is one of the most influential leaders in the European Union – Mbeki
assuaged Bush’s displeasure with Mugabe by vouching that a negotiated
settlement to Zimbabwe’s crisis would be struck by June this year.

      Spokesmen for both the MDC and ZANU PF dismissed the claims then, as
they did this week. One could easily dismiss these denials by both ZANU PF
and the MDC as mere public posturing by politicians.

      And one could even accept that Mbeki is probably right about his June
prediction, for there are still five months to go before that “deadline” is
reached. If only there was the minutest of evidence on the ground to
indicate a thawing of relations between ZANU PF and the MDC to warrant
speculations that the two protagonists are moving towards dialogue.

      We are sure we speak for many when we say we have not seen such
evidence!

      Instead of the government moving against the lawless gangs terrorising
opposition supporters, in order to promote tolerance and create a conducive
environment for resumption of dialogue, political violence continues
unabated.

      In the remote countryside, hidden from the glare of Mbeki and the
international community, innocent Zimbabweans continue to lose life and limb
for daring to support a political party of their choice.

      On the other hand, the economy contines to implode with no solution in
sight.

      Inflation, which dropped from 619.5 percent in November to 598.7
percent in December last year, is still unsustainably high.

      Unemployment is on the increase as more companies shut down and
poverty among Zimbabweans is rising in tandem.

      In short, far from Mbeki’s claims that things are moving in the right
direction, Zimbabwe’s political, economic and social crisis is rapidly
worsening.

      Where Mbeki gets his optimism we do not know. And we have no reason to
question the South African leader’s integrity.

      And we hope and trust, too, that those who have suggested that Mbeki
is not out to protect the ordinary Zimbabwean, but his anti-colonial
struggle comrades occupying the seat of government in Harare, are wrong!

      CHRISTMAS is a great time for meeting family and old friends, so we
all get quite a lot of visitors in the holiday season from the Diaspora.
That’s a fancy Greek word for all our compatriots in Harare North, Unit K
and other foreign places.

      One thing I picked up from some of those visitors this Christmas is
that some of those “foreign” places aren’t as foreign as we thought. We’d
all find ourselves quite at home there.

      George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm and a wise social
commentator, wrote in the 1930s that you could not throw a stone at random
in the south of England without hitting an Anglican bishop’s daughter. Now,
it seems, you are more likely to hit a Zimbabwean government minister’s son,
daughter or grandchild.

      In some of their universities and similar places of learning, you can
hardly move without bumping into one or two of them, if what I hear is not
exaggerated. (It probably is exaggerated, but only a little).

      When we hear so much about the evils being cooked up for us in those
places, isn’t that a little strange?

      Even stranger, we hear that some of those same offspring of our
devotedly revolutionary chefs have even obtained the hated British passports
that all loyal Zimbabweans were being exhorted, and indeed forced, to
renounce so recently.

      I wonder why they should even think of associating themselves with the
detestable British imperialists?

      Sanctions were imposed on the fond parents who send their offspring to
their despicable country by the obnoxious British government because those
hateful British obviously thought the education and training available on
their cold, wet, foggy and unfriendly little island was beneficial to those
who receive it, and probably better than they would get elsewhere.

      The protests we hear from official mouthpieces about how those
sanctions damage our hard-won independence, our national sovereignty and our
attempts at self-sufficient economic development suggest that those
mouthpieces share this belief, that is, they think the whole country suffers
if their children are prevented from attending universities on that same
foggy, cold, wet and unfriendly little island.

      On the other hand, it is just conceivable that our nobly
self-sacrificing leaders are spending such vast amounts of our scarce
foreign currency to prove their dedication and self-sacrifice by giving
their own offspring a vastly inferior education to that which the children
of the povo struggle for here at home and their hard-working, underpaid
parents struggle to provide.

      After all, look at the most recent efforts to provide a suitable
patriotic education to the children of the impoverished masses – the Border
Gezi national youth training centres. These institutions have been accused
of producing a generation of HIV-infected rapist gangsters, but they are
heterosexual rapist gangsters.

      The unfortunate children of the leaders are being subjected to
indoctrination by Tony Blair’s gay gangsters, if we are to believe the
honourable Professor Jonathan Moyo and even higher authority, and all under
the guise of education.

      And we have it from the same higher authority that there is nothing
worse than being gay.

      Gays, we are reliably informed, are worse than pigs and dogs. But we
know that the Border Gezi centres only produce

      Green Bombers. If they act like dogs, they are not worse than dogs.
They are like trained dogs, obedient to their masters’ commands.

      This is the aim of the training received by such of our youth as have
so far benefited from it. Obedience to their masters is after all the
highest form of patriotism, isn’t it?

      And patriotism is high on the Border Gezi syllabus. Much higher than
the practical productive skills which we hear that they are also taught.

      Given that every parent wants to give the best education they can to
their offspring, letting their own children and grandchildren have an
inferior education would show a degree of dedication to, and self-sacrifice
for the national good that is so superhuman it is almost incredible.

      But it does make sense of the wise planning that obviously lies behind
withdrawing from the white racist-dominated neo-imperialist Commonwealth.
Our wise and benevolent leaders want to reduce the chances that the children
and grandchildren of the povo might win Commonwealth scholarships in order
to be subjected to the corrupting influence of Blair’s gay gangsters.

      It is only by honestly and fairly considering every side of an
argument that you, dear readers, will find the truth. We all acknowledge
that this is necessary, especially when dubious elements try to make the
issue controversial.

      We know who those dubious elements are: the unpatriotic and
anti-revolutionary MDC, who are the local paid puppets of the perfidious
British, through their mouthpieces who dominate the so-called independent
Press.

      So balance up the arguments and the probabilities. Is it likely that
our leaders are so venal

      and self-serving that they divert to their own and their families’
private advantage large amounts of the scarce resources we have struggled so
hard to regain control of?

      Isn’t it obvious that such dedicated fighters for our hard-won
independence would only be spending these massive resources in this way for
the national good? Even if the national good puts their own families last in
the queue for the benefits of our hard-won independence?

      Now, don’t ask me whether I really believe all of what I have just
written, but don’t accuse me of not being fair to our noble, dedicated,
self-sacrificing, committed, anti-imperialist,

      revolutionary leaders. To be fair to them, we must look at every
aspect of the argument and try to put their actions and their motives in the
best light.

      Consider all this carefully and come to your own conclusion.

      By Magari Mandebvu. Mandebvu is a Harare-based social commentator.

Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza has rejected foreign
media reports that South African farmers are bracing themselves for a wave
of land grabs similar to those in Zimbabwe, SABC radio news reported on
Friday.

Recently, a New York-based daily reported that much of South Africa's
commercial farmland had been claimed for restitution. The paper contended
that the recent amendment of the Restitution Act was inconsistent with the
spirit of the Constitution.

Didiza -- interviewed by the SABC at Kuruman at the celebration of the
Grootvlakfontein land claims settlement -- said the recent amendment should
not pose any threat to property rights.

She said the Administration of Justice Act had been put in place to ensure
that the restitution process was fair, just and transparent. – Sapa