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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Mugabe says Zimbabwe land seizures will continue |
| 2009-03-01 |
| Saturday land seizures from white farmers would continue and vowed to press ahead with plans for locals to take majority stakes in foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe. Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler for nearly three decades, is holding on to power despite economic and political turmoil that have forced him into a unity government with the opposition. "There is no going back on the land reforms. Farms will not be returned back to former [white] farmers. That work will continue, but those farms have to be used properly. "Again I want to say, the farmers who owned these farms, which now have been designated and offered to new owners, must respect that law. They must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms." Thousands of Zanu-PF supporters in party regalia turned up for Mugabe's 85th birthday rally at a sports field at Chinhoyi University about 100km west of Harare. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was not at the venue, despite earlier indications he would attend the rally. Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba said Tsvangirai had opted out of the event after realising it was organised by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. "People should not read this as a snub. He [Tsvangirai] excused himself," Charamba told Reuters. Mugabe told the crowd the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal, which last year ruled in favour of a group of white farmers whose farms had been targeted for seizure, had no right to rule on the land seizures. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Beatings will continue until morale improves. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-03-01 12:37 |