The opposition MDC-T has denounced President Robert Mugabe’s calls to invade the remaining white-owned farms in the country. President Mugabe said this at a recent youth interface rally where he urged supporters to kick-out the remaining white farmers around the country. The MDC-T described the move as “racist and tribalistic ” and urged the government to instead focus on carrying out a land audit in order to repossess idle land from political elites who own multiple farms.
In a statement, MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said:
We also have got it on very good and reliable authority that at least one senior cabinet minister has amassed no less than 19 farms for himself and members of his immediate family.
More importantly, the MDC is extremely concerned by the retrogressive and blatantly racist call for the compulsory acquisition of all farms that are still being occupied by the few remaining white farmers.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of commercial farm land is lying idle right now and if a transparent land reform audit would be undertaken by the government, a lot of farms can be made available for resettlement by all those deserving Zimbabweans who have applied for land.
Going forward, we would like the land reform exercise to be totally de – racialised and de – tribalised. Zimbabwe is one nation and we are all Zimbabweans regardless of race, ethnicity, colour or creed; including political affiliation.
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