Zimbabwe has started repossessing land grabbed by former president Robert Mugabe\u2019s allies during a controversial agricultural reform programme amid claims the exercise is politically motivated.<\/p>\n
Mugabe, who spearheaded the often violent take over of commercial farms owned by Zimbabwe\u2019s minority white population for redistribution to landless blacks, was toppled in a coup in 2017 by his loyalists. He died in Singapore in September last year.<\/p>\n
Now Mugabe\u2019s allies that escaped to exile during the coup say they are being targeted for victimisation by President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s administration after they opposed his ascendancy.<\/p>\n
The targeted former ruling Zanu-PF party officials include former first lady Grace Mugabe who has already lost a farm.<\/p>\n
Others include former ministers Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere and Mugabe\u2019s nephew Patrick Zhuwao who are all in exile.<\/p>\n
The former ministers were recently issued with eviction letters with the government arguing that their farms were under utilised.<\/p>\n
Professor Moyo, a former higher education minister and one time ruling party strategist, has since taken the government to court arguing that he was being targeted for persecution because he was opposed to Mnangagwa\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
In court papers, he said the government\u2019s actions were politically motivated and had nothing to do with the alleged underutilisation of the land.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always had problems with this farm whenever I have fallen out of favour with the ruling elite,\u201d Prof Moyo said in court papers filed at the Harare High Court.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current problems can also be traced to the political fallout leading to the ouster of RG Mugabe as president of the republic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI must point out that the military, led by the respondent [agriculture minister Perrance Shiri] announced that I was one of the criminals around the president who had to be weeded out. In the event we were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prof Moyo said he had not been able to defend himself against the government\u2019s move to seize the farm because he ran away from Zimbabwe during the coup when soldiers tried to kill him and his family.<\/p>\n
The former academic recently published a book, which he claimed exposed how the military rigged the 2018 elections on behalf of President Mnangagwa and now believes he is being punished for that.<\/p>\n
Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, who narrowly lost the presidential vote, has consistently refused to recognise Mnangagwa\u2019s victory arguing that the polls were rigged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also point out that the withdrawal has been made in the context of the publication, by me, of an academic book in which I expose what I consider to be the manner in the 2018 elections were rigged,\u201d Prof Moyo argued in the court papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat the withdrawal comes hard upon the publication of the book is not a coincidence, particularly as it comes before I have exercised my full and effectual right to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kasukuwere, who was the local government minister as well as the ruling Zanu-PF commissar at the time of the coup, recently announced that he was considering challenging President Mnangagwa in the 2023 presidential elections.<\/p>\n
He tweeted that attempts to grab his farm by the government was part of political persecution.<\/p>\n
Zhuwao, a former youth minister in Mugabe\u2019s government, last month announced he was joining South Africa\u2019s radical opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters.<\/p>\n
Soon after Mr Mugabe\u2019s death, the government initiated a process to seize at least four farms owned by the long time ruler\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
The farms located west of Harare house a dairy products venture, an elite school and an orphanage that were started by Mugabe\u2019s widow.<\/p>\n
They are part of real estate worth millions of dollars accumulated by Zimbabwe\u2019s founding leader\u2019s eccentric wife through violent takeovers in recent years.<\/p>\n
President Mnangagwa has also publicly stated Mr Mugabe\u2019s family owned at least 16 farms and indicated they would be repossessed in line with the government\u2019s \u201cone family, one farm policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics say the land reform largely benefited the former ruler\u2019s cronies, who are holding the land for speculative reasons.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe\u2019s economic collapse has been blamed on the land reform programme as it decimated the agriculture industry, which was the backbone of the economy.<\/p>\n
Aid agencies say at least eight million Zimbabweans will need food aid this year due to consecutive years of poor harvests and the economic malaise.<\/p>\n
The European Union last week said most Zimbabwe\u2019s commercial farms were lying fallow due to bad government policies and corruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zimbabwe has started repossessing land grabbed by former president Robert Mugabe\u2019s allies during a controversial agricultural reform programme amid claims the exercise is politically motivated. Mugabe, who spearheaded the often violent take over of commercial farms owned by Zimbabwe\u2019s minority white population for redistribution to landless blacks, was toppled in a coup in 2017 by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":18472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[34,395],"class_list":["post-18470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-emmerson-mnangagwa","tag-presidency"],"yoast_head":"\n