(HERALD ZW) Govt wants debt freeze for farmers
October 14, 2013
Tendai Mugabe recently in MUKUMBURA
VICE President Joice Mujuru says Government intends to engage banks with a view to freezing debts owed by farmers to enable them to access funding for the 2013/14 cropping season.She said the stop-order loan repayment system should be resuscitated with respect to farmers who delivered grain to the Grain Marketing Board.
VP Mujuru said this in a speech read on her behalf by Mashonaland Central Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Cde Martin Dinha on Saturday at victory celebrations hosted by Mount Darwin North legislator Cde Novet Muponora in Mukumbura.
Addressing questions of food and nutrition, VP Mujuru said:
“That financial institutions (will) be engaged with a view to securing a moratorium for debt repayment by farmers already saddled with debts to the same institutions, to enable them to access funding for the 2013/14 agricultural seasons.”
VP Mujuru said Government, through the District Development Fund, had acquired tractors to bolster rural tillage and the Zunde raMambo facility.
In Mashonaland Central, VP Mujuru said, Government had allocated 40 tractors.
“The tractors will help chiefs, child-headed families, widows and widowers, people living with HIV and war veterans,” she said.
VP Mujuru said Government would soon formulate a law that regulates contract farming, making it mandatory for farmers and contractors to meet their obligations.
Some farmers have been short changed by contractors after signing contracts they do not understand while some farmers were engaging in side marketing.
VP Mujuru said the law was aimed at creating a win-win situation between farmers and contractors.
“The Government package provides a mechanism for the enforcement of contractual obligations to protect the investments of farmers, contractors and suppliers,” she said.
“This is the law. Farmers and contractors must respect and live within the law. Hatidi vaya vanonyepera kungwara vanoita side marketing or those companies that provide inadequate inputs and pay poor prices that are even below international market prices.”
VP Mujuru said Zanu-PF was committed to implementing promises made to the people as espoused in its manifesto.
In this regard, she said the Government had intensified efforts to provide inputs for the 2013/14 farming season. She said Government had made available US$182 million for the summer cropping season and banks were also complementing Government efforts by developing rural infrastructure such as irrigation and feeder roads.
VP Mujuru said Government was aware of the challenges facing people in Mukumbura such as the poor road network and the need for upgrading of immigration offices.
“I am aware of the poor state of the roads in the constituency and nationwide,” she said.
VP Mujuru called for unity of purpose among party supporters in Mashonaland Central as they elect a new provincial leadership later this month.
The incumbent Cde Dickson Mafios would battle it out with Cde Joboringo Mushore for the chairmanship of the province.
“Team Zanu-PF kushanda nevamwe zvakanaka takabatana,” she said.
“Mazvake-mazvake haatibatsiri uye hatiade. A leader whose eye is blind to nepotism, a leader who does not become cheap and by demonising and gossiping around, but focuses on challenges facing the constituency and how these can be resolved.”
Cde Muponora, who is also the Deputy Minister for Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development, thanked the electorate for voting resoundingly for Zanu-PF.
Cde Muponora got 17 910 votes in the July 31 harmonised elections against MDC-T’s candidate’s 612.
Labels: JOICE MUJURU, MARTIN DINHA, NEW FARMERS
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Zimbabwe asks ANC to block property auction
20/09/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE will ask South Africa’s ruling African National Congress to take a “political decision” to stop displaced white farmers from seizing its properties, a minister said on Thursday.
South Africa’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Zimbabwe against a decision of the Johannesburg High Court to register and enforce a 2008 judgement of the SADC Tribunal which ruled that the land reform programme was “racist and illegal” – clearing the way for white farmers to press for compensation.
The 77 white farmers had gone on to attach a Cape Town property owned by Zimbabwe – which was not covered by diplomatic immunity – with the intention of selling it.
Zimbabwe has always said it did not recognise the SADC Tribunal’s rulings because it did not ratify its founding treaty. The Tribunal has since been abolished.
Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa said: “What they (farmers) are fighting is not about land, but to trouble the government of Zimbabwe.
“After this judgment, which is legal, we should let it go and we speak to the ANC [African National Congress] and take a political decision. I hope that is possible.”
Advocate Martin Dinha, who was part of Zimbabwe’s legal team, said suggested the decision of the South African Supreme Court was racist.
“South Africa’s judiciary is not yet liberated from apartheid; it has cosmetic liberation. South Africa remains a colony of white Rhodesians and apartheid,” charged Dinha, who is also the Mashonaland Central governor.
He added: “Notwithstanding attempts by elements of the Rhodesian Front to derail the land reform programme, the programme is totally irreversible.
“No country has jurisdiction over another. Zimbabwe is a sovereign state.”
He said Zimbabwe fully expected South Africa to take political steps to stop any further seizures of Zimbabwean properties.
“South Africa must be careful. They must respect the sovereignty of Zimbabwe. They have properties here and given that there are unspeakable abuses that were committed during colonialism and property was damaged, nothing stops us from seeking compensatory damages here and attaching those properties.”
Willie Spies, a lawyer for the white farmers, called unanimous decision by the Supreme Court a “a great success ... a symbolic victory that makes it possible for the government of Zimbabwe to be effectively punished.”
Spies, attorney for South African rights group AfriForum and for many Zimbabwean farmers, said the dismissal will bring solace “to the many Zimbabweans who affected by the atrocities.”
He added: “I think it’s probably the first time in legal history internationally that a judicial failure in execution of property will go on after a country is found to be in contravention of certain human rights laws. We’re making legal history.”
Labels: AFRIFORUM, APARTHEID, DIDYMUS MUTASA, LAND REFORM, MARTIN DINHA
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Zimbabwe: Dinha Calls for Co-Existence On Farms
21 April 2010
Harare — Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister Advocate Martin Dinha has urged white commercial farmers to co-exist on land with their black counterparts.
Adv Dinha was speaking on Monday at the Agriculture Research Trust during a visit by a Mozambican delegation that was in Zimbabwe to familiarise itself with the land reform programme.
Said Adv Dinha: "The land reforms sought to share land between white commercial farmers and the black majority and those who accepted it are still on the farms but those who did not want to share counted the costs. In Mazoe District, we have white farmers who supported Government's land reform programme and they were also considered under the 99-year leases.
"We have farmers like Nascemento Manuel who have been very supportive of the newly-resettled black farmers.
"He has already started a horticulture project, which promotes our people and this is what we want to see with the remaining white farmers. Other white farmers who have been supportive of this programme include Bryan Townsend and Jordin Manuel and our new farmers have benefited from these farmers."
Head of the Mozambican delegation Mr Venancio Veremo said the tour was an eye-opener.
"The Government of Zimbabwe has done a lot to empower its people and the land reform is one such example of empowerment.
"We have toured farms owned by both blacks and white farmers and they are doing a good job. These white farmers understood that it was necessary for Government to redistribute land to the people.
"Other people were saying it was xenophobic but we have learnt that it was about equitable sharing of land," Mr Veremo said.
He said Mozambique had a lot to learn from Zimbabwe's empowerment programmes.
Labels: FRELIMO, LAND REFORM, MARTIN DINHA, MOZAMBIQUE, VENANCIO VEREMO
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Mozambique delegation on Zim land reform study tour
Posted: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:04 am
A MOZAMBICAN delegation is currently visiting Zimbabwe to familiarise itself with the country's land reform programme. Zimbabwe is heralded by many African countries as setting the precedent for passing the ownership of the means of production (especially land) to indigenous people.
A Portuguese-speaking country, Mozambique is situated to the north of South Africa, east of Zimbabwe and Malawi and south of Tanzania has a 2,470 km coastline, bordered by the tropical Indian Ocean.
Speaking on Monday at the Agriculture Research Trust, head of the Mozambican delegation Mr Venancio Veremo, of the liberation movement, the Freedom For The Liberation of Mozambique party (Frelimo), said the tour was an eye-opener for their delegation.
Zanu-PF and Frelimo have age-old ties dating back to the liberation struggle.
"The Government of Zimbabwe has done a lot to empower its people and the land reform is one such example of empowerment," said Mr veremo.
"We have toured farms owned by both blacks and white farmers and they are doing a good job. These white farmers understood that it was necessary for Government to redistribute land to the people.
"Other people were saying it was xenophobic, but we have learnt that it was about equitable sharing of land," Mr Veremo added.
He said Mozambique had a lot to learn from Zimbabwe’s empowerment programmes.
Mr Veremo's delagation's visit to Zimbabwe follows the ANC Youth League's visit earlier this month. The ANCYL president Julius Malema said he was impressed by the way land reform had progressed in Zimbabwe, despite international media and foreign governments' criticisms.
Speaking at the same occassion, Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister Advocate Martin Dinha urged white commercial farmers to co-exist on land with their black counterparts.
Adv Dinha said: "The land reforms sought to share land between white commercial farmers and the black majority and those who accepted it are still on the farms but those who did not want to share counted the costs.
"In Mazoe District, we have white farmers who supported Government’s land reform programme and they were also considered under the 99-year leases.
"We have farmers like Nascemento Manuel who have been very supportive of the newly-resettled black farmers.
"He has already started a horticulture project, which promotes our people and this is what we want to see with the remaining white farmers. Other white farmers who have been supportive of this programme include Bryan Townsend and Jordin Manuel and our new farmers have benefited from these farmers."
Mozambique’s colonial and socialist past have contributed to a number of unusual features in its overall legal framework and in particular its property legislation.
All land in Mozambique is the property of the state. It cannot be bought or sold, mortgaged or otherwise transacted. Land is held based on a concession-type arrangement with contracts valid for up to 50 years, and renewable.
Zimbabwe's war of liberation was fought solely for land. Various land laws passed by the racist government of Ian Smith and other colonial governments removed blacks from their ancestral lands and put them in "keeps" for decades.
The rest of Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, is still battling to remove land tenure acts that displaced millions of people.
There are increasing calls in South Africa for redistributive land policies that favour marginalised black people.
Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), JULIUS MALEMA, LAND REFORM, MARTIN DINHA, MOZAMBIQUE
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Governor says MDC-T legislators' behaviour deplorable
Ralph Mutema
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:47:00 +0000
THE recently-appointed Governor and Resident Minister for Mashonaland Central Advocate Martin Dinha has condemned the rowdy behaviour of MDC-T House of Assembly members who heckled President Mugabe when he officially opened the first session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe last week. He said
such behaviour should not go unpunished and government should take action.
Addressing Zanu PF members who were demonstrating against the ‘deplorable behaviour’ in Bindura, Advocate Dinha said the legislators’ behaviour was deplorable and disgraceful. He scorned at their lack of seriousness in matters of national interest.
He said the disgraceful behaviour by the MDC law makers has also crept into newly sworn in MDC led Bindura Town council where workers are being victimized on political lines saying this should stop immediately.
Turning to his new term in office, Advocate Dinha called for unity of purpose in the province saying this is a time for Zimbabwe to be strong in the face of machinations by some unruly elements to render the country ungovernable.
Advocate Dinha said during his tenure he will strive to see that natural resources found in Mashonaland Central Province benefit the ordinary people.
Zim Guardian/Newsnet
Labels: MARTIN DINHA, MDC VIOLENCE, PARLIAMENT, ZIMBABWE
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