Chiefs fronting for white farmers: Mugabe
15/02/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has threatened to take action against chiefs and
senior government officials he accused of leasing their lands to white
ex-farmers disposed under the country’s land reforms.
Addressing a conference for the traditional leaders in Masvingo Friday,
Mugabe said he was aware some chiefs were being used as fronts by white
ex-farmers returning to the country.
“Please tibatsirei machiefs and stop being fronts for former white farmers
nekuti kana tanzwa kuti kuna chief anemurungu wake papurazi tinozouya
kwamuri toti tiudzei mutupo wake,” the Zanu PF leader said.
“We do not want to end up repossessing some of the farms that we gave you
under the land reform programme, but we know a lot of things that are
happening on the farms.
“We know a lot of things that some of you do not even know and it’s not
chiefs alone who are fronting for the white men there are even some senior
Government officials who are being used by whites. Beware!’’
Mugabe said the country’s land reform programme – widely condemned as unjust
and racist by the West – was part of a programme aimed at giving Zimbabweans
complete control of the country.
“When we first took our land from the whites we knew that we were on the
first stage of transferring wealth from whites to blacks and mabhunu
celebrated kuti vari kutora mapurazi oga vanhu vatema asi isu we have the
minerals and control the industries,” he said.
“We knew exactly that we were on the first stage of taking our resources
after we had educated our people from 1980 when we started building schools
in all parts of the country.
“We now have many educated people and we should now move to assume total
control of our natural resources. We can now stand on our own. Tinokwanisa
kuzvitonga iye zvino chaizvo izvo,’’he said.