Land is ours forever, says Mnangagwa




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President Mnangagwa has rallied Zimbabweans to fully utilise the land given to them by Government under the agrarian reform and feed the nation.

He said the land will never again be allowed to be in foreign hands.

President Mnangagwa was speaking while commissioning the Sakubva Urban Renewal Project in Mutare on Wednesday.

“We want every Zimbabwean with access to land, be it in communal lands or farms, to fully utilise it,” he said. “Rimai, rimai, ndiko kudya cheziya. Hapana chinouya kwauri usina kushanda.”

President Mnangagwa said those without land would get their pieces once the land audit was complete.

“In Zanu-PF we say production, production, production,” he said. “Let us cultivate the land and feed our nation. There are others who say we do not have land. There is a land audit and it is almost complete.

“We will take land from those with multiple farms or big farms.

“It is that land we will allocate those without. If you were allocated land use it productively.”

President Mnangagwa said the country had suffered two consecutive droughts leading to the current food shortages.

“The rainy season has started,” he said. “We have had two consecutive years of drought in our country. We cannot blame anyone. This is climate change which affects all countries. Our situation was worsened by Cyclone Idai which left a trail of destruction in Chimanimani and Chipinge. We lost relatives. But because of the droughts there is a food shortage and our people are hungry.”

President Mnangagwa said no one would starve.

“As Government we sat down and said we will run around and ensure people get food in rural and urban areas,” he said. “We have never in the past given food aid in urban areas, but this time around we will give people in urban areas food aid through the Ministry of Social Welfare, which will assess the needy.

“They are done with Harare and Bulawayo and residents in those cities are receiving food aid.”

Other cities and towns are being assessed to see the extent of need.

“In Mutare and other cities, they are making assessments,” said President Mnangagwa. “We are also providing food aid in rural areas and we receive weekly updates. We sent our ministers to find out where we can source maize and wheat. We have not rested. We are getting supplies from a number of sources for up to June next year.”

President Mnangagwa bemoaned the illegal Western sanctions for strangling the economy.

“We have been under sanctions for 20 years,” he said. “The sanctions collapsed our economy and we have no lines of credit from international institutions like we used to get when we were good boys.

“We became special boys when we took over the land. The moment we said we are taking our land back we became special boys. But others said these are now bad boys.

“We resolved to take over our land. We are determined as a nation, never, never, never will we allow our land to be taken over again. It is ours forever.”

President Mnangagwa noted that the land reform was the reason why Zimbabwe was punished with illegal sanctions.

“As a result we were punished with sanctions,” he said. “No one is assisting us. The only survival we have is for us to think outside the box and use our own resources in Zimbabwe to build our nation, to reconstruct our economy.”

Despite the illegal embargo, President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe would engage and re-engage the international community.

“We are saying the people of Zimbabwe have no quarrel with the people of America,” he said. “We have no quarrel with the people of Germany. We have no quarrel with the people of China. We have no quarrel with the people of Japan. We have no quarrel with the people of South Africa.

“Why are you the Americans quarrelling with us? What have we done to you? You in London, the British, you impose sanctions on us? Why are you angry that we re-allocated our land?”

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was a sovereign state.

“We must be accepted as a nation of Zimbabwe,” he said. “We won sovereignty and independence and we must chart the destiny of our people, the destiny of our country.

“We have no quarrel with anybody else. We will not interfere in the affairs of other countries and we expect reciprocity to that stance.”

President Mnangagwa called for unity among Zimbabweans, saying it was an important ingredient in economic development and nation building.

The President castigated those with a tendency to instigate violent demonstrations.

“Kana une shungu ne violence enda undoita kunedzimwe nyika dzevarungu kwamakakumbira ma sanctions,” he said. “Muno toda runyararo. Toda kuwirirana. Toda kuvaka nyika yedu. Hongu hapana musha usina mwana anorashika. Tinenge tichiti dzokai vana vangu dzokai tibatane.

“Huyai kuna mai huyai kuna baba. Inga mu Bible kune vakarasika jaya mufumi asi handiti vakadzoka vakamutambira. Vose vakarashika dzokai tokutambirai kumusha mu Zanu-PF.”

President Mnangagwa said Zanu- PF was a revolutionary party which brought independence.

“Hakuna umwe musangano une nhoroondo yekusunungura nyika kunze kwe Zanu-PF,” he said. “Kwatakabva kune nhoroondo, patiri panenhoroondo. Kwatiri kuenda tirikuona chiedza. Saka hama dzangu chero pauri ukaona kuda uvete uchirota wabuda muZanu-PF muka ubike doro kuti mudzimu wakundirasha.”

Source – Herald