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Minister admits farm seizures hurt Zimbabwe

Andrew Meldrum

Pretoria: A Senior Minister in Robert Mugabe's Government admitted for the first time on Tuesday that Zimbabwe's bungled farm seizures are to blame for repeated crop failures.

``The problem is we gave land to people lacking the passion for farming, and this is why every year production has been declining,'' said the Deputy Agriculture Minister, Sylvester Nguni.

Formerly white-owned farms were given to ``people without the faintest idea of farming'', said Mr. Nguni. He conceded that this was the main cause of the current massive crop failure, which has left more than 30 per cent of Zimbabwe's people dependent on food aid.

The statement is the Government's strongest admission to date of the failure of its seizures, in which some 4,500 mostly white-owned farms were grabbed, often violently, since 2000. The admission came as the U.N. stepped up its diplomatic offensive against Harare.

Mr. Nguni was speaking to a meeting of the Farmers Union, which represents black farmers left out of the land redistribution.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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