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(TALKZIMBABWE) Britain could fund Zimbabwe land reform: envoy

COMMENT - UK government admits to lying over land reform. That certainly is a first, and I have to say, some kind of improvement over Tony Blair's New Labour.

Britain could fund Zimbabwe land reform: envoy
This article was written by Our reporter on
19 May (2012), at 16 : 06 PM

BRITAIN has admitted that the land reform programme was the reason why relations broke down with Zimbabwe and that it could resume the funding if a major political shift was to take place in the country.

This is in contrast to arguments which were proffered by the New Labour party of former prime minister Tony Blair (pictured above with President Mugabe) that relations broke down because of Zanu-PF’s failure to concede defeat at the 2000 parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections, and the violation of human rights.

When Tony Blair’s New Labour took over power in the UK in 1997, Clare Short the Minister for International Development claimed that since neither she nor her colleagues in the labour government came from the landed class in Britain, they could not be held responsible for what Britain had done in colonial Rhodesia.

This implied that the New Labour Government in Britain had effectively reneged on its responsibilities and obligations under International Law.

Zimbabwe, in response to this move, started on a fast-track land reform programme which saw land transferred from whites to majority blacks.

British ambassador to Zimbabwe, Deborah Bronnert, has now admitted that it was land reform that triggered the imposition of sanctions, but she does not come clean on the fact that she would like to see what Britain terms “property rights” restored. These “property rights” refer to giving back land to white commercial farmers.

“… we do have a problem with the way the land reform was undertaken and we feel it was unfair to the individuals affected,” she said

“It had a terrible impact both on those running and managing the farms, those working on the farms and the wider Zimbabwean economy.”

This statement has been construed by the Zimbabwean government as tantamount to interfering with Zimbabwe’s sovereignty, as the ambassador indicated that Britain might reconsider meeting its Lancaster House obligations, but there will need to be a major “big political shift”.

“At some point I think we are likely to … support a future settlement but I think we are a long way from it and it will require quite a big political shift and a political settlement here for that to be taken forward,” said Bronnert.

The ambassador added that Britain had met part of its obligations promised at Lancaster House in 1979. She was less explicit about why Britain had stopped the funding of the land reform programme.

“Well, we are not parties to the GPA, this was a Zimbabwean agreement and we … did actually provide some funds for land reform, soon after independence. I think it was £44 million which we paid.”

[And £44 million is not the £2 billion promised at Lancaster House, now is it? - MrK]

Labels: LAND REFORM, NEW LABOUR PARTY, UK

posted by MrK @ 3:40 PM