The new Zimbabwean government under President Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly overturned a farm land grab from a few months ago.
Before the Zimbabwe “coup”, reports were already emerging hinting at Emmerson Mnangagwa’s plans to rebuild the economy. According to those reports, the country’s previously exiled white farmers would play a large role in that plan. Now, the new government looks to have already overturned a land grab.
Reports from Zimbabwe show that a white commercial farmer in the Manicaland province is set to return back and resume production. In June, heavily armed Zimbabwean riot police forcefully evicted Robert Smart from his farm. Smart was a tobacco and maize grower and was evicted to make way for a top cleric who had links with Former President Robert Mugabe.
The farm grab took place a short while after Mugabe told his supporters that all the remaining white commercial farmers should be kicked off their properties. Why? In order to make way for Zanu-PF’s supporters.
NewZimbabwe now reports that President Mnangagwa’s special adviser Chris Mutswangwa has called for farmers like Smart to not be disturbed with their farming.
“This [their eviction] was a play by Chimene to scare away the investors from the country. President Mnangagwa was clear that land reform is irreversible but instead that it should not be radical.”
“These farmers are Zimbabweans and they belong to Manicaland province,” Mutswangwa was quoted as saying, adding that the country now needed direct investments to boost the economy.
A few months ago, Reuters reported that it has seen hundreds of documents that show Mnangagwa and other political player have been positioning themselves for the day Mugabe dies or steps down. An intelligence report from as far back as 2009 also indicates that Mnangagwa plans to “reshape the country”
Mnangagwa is said to be ready to pursue a new relationship with thousands of white farmers. Farmers who were previously chased off their farms violently in the early 2000s. Reuters says the relationship will form part of a new transitional government that Mnangagwa wants to set up.
You can read the full story on Mnangagwa and white farmers here.