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Cde Mbeki

Simiso Mlevu Staff Writer
Former South African President Cde Thabo Mbeki has hailed Zimbabweans for taking the land issue seriously and making it part of their national consciousness.

His remarks came in the wake of media reports recently that a group of five Zimbabwean professionals based in South Africa had seized an opportunity to till a piece of land whose owner had stopped cultivating it in the Western Cape.

In a video clip uploaded on Avimedia Facebook page, Cde Mbeki praised Zimbabweans for their attitude towards land, which was primarily the essence of the liberation struggle.

“The story of farmers who are highly productive at Malmesbury is a good tale to tell.

‘‘It’s a good story to tell because it’s Africans, but it is Zimbabweans.

“It is not any South African who went to the farmer to say can I use your farm, but Zimbabweans did. It is because Zimbabweans have got a very different attitude to land,” said Cde Mbeki.

In South Africa, whenever there was a land issue, Cde Mbeki said, South Africans preferred to get money instead of working the land.

“If you look at the records of the land claims that have been settled over the last 22 years, you will find that in the majority of cases, the people who win the claim prefer to take the money rather than keep the land and work the land.

“That is the reality of South Africa. The Zimbabweans have got a very different attitude towards land, from what our people have,” Cde Mbeki said adding that he was not surprised at all when he learnt that the Malmesbury farmers were Zimbabweans.

The compliments by the former South African president are an indication that Zimbabwe was right in carrying out its land reform programme, which sent an unequivocal message to the world on the importance of land in tackling poverty and enhancing social equity.

The five Zimbabwean academics-turned-farmers are Drs Ignatius Matimati and Batsirai Magunje, Engineer Walter Khumalo, Wellington Paradza and Albert Zinhanga.

DR Matimati has a doctorate in agriculture while Dr Magunje has one in physics.

In a telephone interview from his Cape Town base, Mr Zinhanga said land reform stood to benefit the country if farmers had the requisite expertise and support.

He added: “We would like to experiment with our model back home.”

The Government embarked on the historic land reform programme in 2000 and over 300 000 people across social strata have benefited.

Countries such as South Africa are also planning to redistribute land to their people.