Mugabe defends constitutional changes

HAVANA – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe confirmed on Monday he had signed into law controversial constitutional changes he said would finally settle any dispute over the legality of seizing white-owned farms.

During a state visit to Communist Cuba, Mugabe said he had approved laws passed two weeks ago by Zimbabwe’s parliament that allow his government to effectively nationalise formerly white-owned farms and impose travel bans on “traitors”. “The amendment ends any doubt about the acquisition of land from British settlers.That it is now final and no one can question it.Our constitution has put a seal to the liberation of our land and its acquisition by our nation,” he told reporters.Mugabe met later with Cuban President Fidel Castro, thanking him for sending doctors to Zimbabwe.”We are in the same trench and we are comrades in arms,” Mugabe said of Castro.The changes also provided for the creation of a Senate as the second chamber of parliament, which Mugabe’s critics said would be packed with the veteran leader’s allies.Mugabe described it as a “consolidation of national power”.Mugabe told Zimbabwean students in Cuba that elections for the Senate – which the government says will improve the quality of legislation passed in the country – would be held before the end of the year.The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change says the latest changes to the constitution – which Mugabe has altered 17 times since independence from Britain in 1980 – are proof that Mugabe has become a classic dictator.Changes to land laws will effectively bar white farmers from challenging in courts the seizure of their property under the government’s land reform program, which critics say has destroyed Zimbabwe’s commercial agriculture.- Nampa-Reuters”The amendment ends any doubt about the acquisition of land from British settlers.That it is now final and no one can question it.Our constitution has put a seal to the liberation of our land and its acquisition by our nation,” he told reporters.Mugabe met later with Cuban President Fidel Castro, thanking him for sending doctors to Zimbabwe.”We are in the same trench and we are comrades in arms,” Mugabe said of Castro.The changes also provided for the creation of a Senate as the second chamber of parliament, which Mugabe’s critics said would be packed with the veteran leader’s allies.Mugabe described it as a “consolidation of national power”.Mugabe told Zimbabwean students in Cuba that elections for the Senate – which the government says will improve the quality of legislation passed in the country – would be held before the end of the year.The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change says the latest changes to the constitution – which Mugabe has altered 17 times since independence from Britain in 1980 – are proof that Mugabe has become a classic dictator.Changes to land laws will effectively bar white farmers from challenging in courts the seizure of their property under the government’s land reform program, which critics say has destroyed Zimbabwe’s commercial agriculture.- Nampa-Reuters