Monday, June 14, 2004
Mugabe nationalises the lot in shock land grab
The Zimbabwe Government has banned all private land ownership and will nationalise all farmland and privately-owned game parks. The move has been described as the "single biggest shock" of President Robert Mugabe's rule since independence from Britain in 1980.
"This has effectively turned back the clock and put Zimbabwe back into the centuries-old feudal economic systems which benefited the kings and their aristocrats and impoverished the poor," said prominent Zimbabwean economist John Robertson.
In an announcement in the state-owned Herald newspaper, John Nkomo, the Special Affairs Minister in the President's office in charge of Land Reform and Resettlement, ordered all private landowners to give up their land to the Government immediately.
Note: Last Christmas holidays, I met a number of Zimbabwean families who have immigrated to New Zealand to escape the Mugabe regime. Without exception, they were all dismayed at what is happening in New Zealand under the current government. Actually, angry would be a better word. They could not believe that New Zealanders can't see where the government is taking us.
The Zimbabwe Government has banned all private land ownership and will nationalise all farmland and privately-owned game parks. The move has been described as the "single biggest shock" of President Robert Mugabe's rule since independence from Britain in 1980.
"This has effectively turned back the clock and put Zimbabwe back into the centuries-old feudal economic systems which benefited the kings and their aristocrats and impoverished the poor," said prominent Zimbabwean economist John Robertson.
In an announcement in the state-owned Herald newspaper, John Nkomo, the Special Affairs Minister in the President's office in charge of Land Reform and Resettlement, ordered all private landowners to give up their land to the Government immediately.
Note: Last Christmas holidays, I met a number of Zimbabwean families who have immigrated to New Zealand to escape the Mugabe regime. Without exception, they were all dismayed at what is happening in New Zealand under the current government. Actually, angry would be a better word. They could not believe that New Zealanders can't see where the government is taking us.
