Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Farm invasions taskforce to present report

Farm invasions taskforce to present report
by Lebo Nkatazo
30/09/2009 00:00:00

A COMMITTEE investigating reports of new farm invasions is expected to present its preliminary report on Thursday.

The government put together a cross-party team led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to investigate reports of fresh farm invasions after a power sharing government took office in February.

The taskforce is now ready with its report, according to Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube, who is set to receive the initial findings in his capacity as chairman of a body set up to monitor compliance with a power sharing agreement signed between the country’s three main parties.

Ncube said: “The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee deployed teams that are involved in an exercise of visiting farms to gather details regarding farm invasions. And as JOMIC, we will sit on Thursday to receive a preliminary report on what is going on in terms of farm invasions.”

JOMIC, made up of officials from Zanu PF and the two MDC factions, will made recommendations based on the findings to President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mutambara as the principals to the power sharing pact.

Tsvangirai and Mutambara have led calls for a cessation of all farm disruptions, saying this was scaring off potential investors.

Mutambara said: “We are trying to quickly address this political hygiene matter. It's a matter of life and death. We must stop imposing sanctions on ourselves by fresh farm invasions and disregarding court orders.

"I am saying we are guilty as charged on this account. But we are saying the transgressions are not insurmountable.”

Ncube, meanwhile, has revealed that the cash-strapped government has been unable to carry out an audit into a controversial land redistribution programme by the previous Zanu PF government to identify multiple farm owners and land misuse.

Zimbabwe began seizing farms from white land owners in 2000 without compensation to resettle landless blacks. Critics of the programme say it benefitted mainly top government and Zanu PF officials, many of whom own several farms each or have been unable to maintain production levels of the previous landlords.

With growing concerns over reports that a handful of remaining white farmers are being driven out, Ncube says the government must arrest the disruptions and guarantee property rights to restore its international credibility.

He said: “Without fixing agriculture, we cannot fix the economy since our economy is agro-based. Therefore, agriculture is the foundation of our economy. The Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement has been tasked to … find a way to provide security of tenure.”

Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA, JOMIC, LAND REFORM, WELSHMAN NCUBE

posted by MrK @ 3:09 PM