Land acquisition to continue: Mugabe
03/08/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
SANCTIONS slapped on Zimbabwe by the West were aimed at stopping the country’s
land reforms President Robert Mugabe has said, insisting the measures had
failed and should be lifted.
Mugabe is on a three-day visit to Zambia where he will also officially open
the country’s annual agricultural and commercial show on Saturday.
Speaking during a state banquet held in his honour, Mugabe said the
sanctions, imposed more than a decade ago, were meant to stop the seizures
of land from white farmers for redistribution to landless blacks.
“The sanctions are a deliberate ploy to make us fail as Zimbabwe, but I can
tell you that these sanctions have failed and they are not justified and
should be removed,” he said.
“We refused to stop the land acquisition. The land in Zimbabwe is ours.”
Last month the European Union (EU) promised to ease most of the sanctions
only if the country holds a “credible” vote on a new constitution, a key
reform before new elections.
EU ministers said sanctions would be lifted against most of the 112
Zimbabweans still listed on a decade-old EU asset freeze and travel ban. But
veteran leader Mugabe would remain on an EU blacklist.
“We will continue to fight for these sanctions to be removed. Zimbabwe is
for Zimbabweans and we will not surrender,” said Mugabe.
He said despite the sanctions the “economy has grown, the mines are growing,
inflation has gone down”.
Mugabe who is accompanied by his wife Grace, and senior government officials
also commended the cooperation between the two neighbouring countries which
dates back to the 1950s.
“The past is what has made the present, where we are today. And now in our
present circumstances, we should cooperate even more so that the
beneficiaries can understand our history,” he said.
Mugabe was expected to meet the country’s first President, Kenneth Kaunda on
Friday before opening the agricultural show on Saturday.