(HERALD) Farmers’ union blasts continued illegal sanctions

Farmers’ union blasts continued illegal sanctions
Herald Reporter

CONTINUED illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe are detrimental to economic development, the ordinary people and the country as whole, the Commercial Farmers' Union has said. In a statement issued following a meeting with Government officials and Ministers in Harare, CFU took a swipe on the embargoes.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Cde Didymus Mutasa, Minister of State for Special Affairs Responsible for Land and Resettlement Programme Cde Flora Buka, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Senator Aguy Georgias and senior Government officials.

"As citizens and investors of this country, commercial farmers do not condone actions that are undertaken to the detriment of the people of this country.

"We will continue to work on our core business to promote viable agricultural production through the optimisation of the use of land in the country," the body said.

The Government has previously expressed concern with the perceived lack of respect by CFU members for its authority and the tendency to disobey new land laws promulgated by Parliament.

Of late, some CFU members have been under fire for allegedly throwing spanners into the land reform programme to cripple agricultural production.

Acting CFU president Mr Deon Theron said the union was committed to the pursuit of negotiation and dialogue to resolve national and international differences.

"The union respects the sovereignty of the country and believes that it remains for Zimbabweans to solve Zimbabwean problems," he said. CFU, he said, remains ready to contribute positively to the national economy through the production of crops, livestock and sharing of expertise with new farmers.

The CFU statement comes in the wake of remarks by both factions of the MDC supporting the ongoing dialogue between the opposition party and Zanu-PF during debate on the Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 18, which the two parties co-sponsored in Parliament.

Secretary General of the Mutambara-led faction Professor Welshman Ncube said the two parties had taken the right steps to address the socio-economic challenges facing the country and were impressed with the progress made by the dialogue.

He said: "As the negotiating teams move on with the rest of the agenda (of the talks), electoral laws, AIPPA and indeed the question of sanctions, we will deal with them and we hope to find each other.

"We believe we cannot continue to conduct politics for the sake of politics. We should begin to conduct politics for the service of the people," Prof Ncube said while contributing to debate on the Bill, which now awaits President Mugabe’s assent.

Mr Theron said CFU members were using their land and co-existing with communal and new farmers.

"We are also assisting communal and neighbouring farmers in the agricultural sector and we have also formally applied for the necessary authority to farm to the Ministry of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement in the form of 99-year leases," he said.