Zimbabwe 'not nationalising land'

Date: 15 June 2004

Source: BBC

Author: Anon

Zimbabwe has denied reports that it plans to end private land ownership.

Policy on land which is not part of the land reform programme is not changing, a statement said.

John Nkomo, minister in charge of land reform, was last week quoted as saying that all title deeds would be replaced by 99-year leases.

About 500 white farmers remain on their land in Zimbabwe, out of some 4,000 in 2000, when the government speeded up the process of land reform.

They own just 3% of the best farmland, down from 70%, government figures say.

The statement said that blacks who have been allocated land were being given 99-year leases.

"This position only applies to land acquired by the state under land reforms, and does not in any way invalidate or supersede other lawful forms of tenure which, in any case, are recognised and protected by the laws of the land," the government-controlled Herald newspaper reports.

Meanwhile, World Food Programme (WFP) head James Morris has postponed a trip to Zimbabwe, where he was expected to discuss the government's announcement that it no longer needed food aid.

A WFP spokesman said that there was simply a scheduling problem and that officials were busy attending an Aids conference and a cabinet meeting.

Government critics and aid agencies say that the disruption to the farm sector has led to massive hunger, with more than half the population needing food aid.

But the government says that harvests are now rising, with production of the staple food maize, more than doubling compared to the previous two years.

Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told state-run media that the government's land redistribution programme was responsible for the improvement.

The government blamed the food shortages of previous years on drought.