‘We don’t regret taking our land’

ZIMBABWEAN president Emmerson Mnangagwa says his country does not regret forcefully taking land from white farmers, a decision which landed the southern African country into years of economic troubles.

He made these remarks yesterday when he visited his Namibian counterpart, Hage Geingob, at State House.

Mnangagwa is in Namibia on a three-day state visit.

During yesterday’s meeting, he said the sanctions imposed on his country following land grabs were illegal, and have resulted in the collapse of the country’s economy.

The Zimbabwean government grabbed land from white commercial farmers in 2000 after the ruling party, Zanu-PF, lost a constitutional referendum.

The chaotic and often violent land grabs which were spearheaded by the war veterans triggered an economic meltdown that is still haunting the country, which was once regarded as Africa’s breadbasket.

“We, the Zimbabweans, do not regret taking back our land. However, we have not put our heads in the sand because sanctions have been imposed on us,” he stated.

Mnangagwa was responding to questions from the media on the prevailing sanctions, and their impact on the country’s economic development.

He was also asked whether there were any lessons Namibia could learn from Zimbabwe in terms of implementing the land reform programme.

“We took back the land because it is ours. So, how we use it, is the decision of our people to make. Zimbabwe has not agreed to pay compensation on land. What we agreed in our constitution is to pay compensation for improvements on the land by those who may have acquired our land, and initially, there was an arrangement with the British to compensate their kith and kin. That is the provision of our constitution, which we intend to honour,” he added. Despite the economic sanctions on his country, Mnangagwa said his government has now devised a strategy to revive the economy with the transition stabilisation programme.

He said this strategy will include “huge economic and political reforms”.

Under this strategy, Mnangagwa said he wants to see positive recovery by the end of 2019, and a move towards achieving middle-income country status.

“With regards to economic reforms, we have now started seeing indicative progress towards the recovery of the economy,” he noted.

Mnangagwa stated that under his administration, Zimbabwe presents numerous opportunities for investment and cooperation.

Zimbabwe has also made progress towards the creation of its own currency, which he said could prove beneficial in economic cooperation terms with Namibia.

He thus called on Namibia and other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries to increase pressure on the international community to lift the sanctions on his country.

During the event, Namibia and Zimbabwe signed seven agreements that cover areas of trade and the economy, the promotion of small and medium enterprises, and an agreement in information, media and broadcasting targeted at transforming the weekly newspaper, The Southern Times, which was published in a collaboration between the two countries.

Other legal instruments signed at the meeting were an agreement between the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and the Namibia Customs and Excise Department on mutual administrative assistance, a cooperation agreement in the field of science and technology development, as well as a twinning agreement between the Kavango East region and the Mashonaland West province.

After signing the seven cooperation agreements, president Hage Geingob said the two countries should continue working together “in pursuing our common objectives”.

He added that the countries need to collaborate, redouble and harmonise the joint efforts aimed at addressing the power crisis facing the SADC region.

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