HARARE, July 22 (ANA) - Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has assured white Zimbabweans that his administration will not continue land invasions.
“Land grabs belong to the past,” he told the white community at Borrowdale Race Course in Harare while on the campaign trail ahead of the July 30 elections.
“We are grateful to the white farmers who remained in Zimbabwe and you must also be given 99-year leases,” he said.
Mnangagwa, who rose to power through a military coup which forced his predecessor Robert Mugabe to resign, has been presenting himself as a reformer and has promised equality for all Zimbabweans.
“Everyone is equal. If my deputy [Constantino] Chiwenga or even me, has a farm too big for his capacity in terms of utilisation, it shall be downsized," he said.
“All am saying is everyone is equal, as long as he or she is patriotic and participating in nation-building. They should not just wait to eat the cake, but must participate in the cake-making process.”
Promising to stop farm seizures, Mnangagwa said he had seen senior government officials “who when they see a productive farm, they seize it and run it down, go to the other and do the same”. “Let me tell you that time is gone,” he said.
The Zanu PF presidential candidate pleaded with the white community in Zimbabwe to join the government in rebuilding the country, which almost collapsed due to years of economic meltdown and plunder.
“On Thursday I commissioned a hospital which was refurbished by a Zimplats Mine. If they had waited for the government they wouldn't be where they are. Let's emulate Zimplats,” he said, pleading with a community previously tormented by Mugabe.
Zimplats is a subsidiary of South Africa’s Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd (Implats). Mnangagwa promised that his government would be more inclusive and stop racial discrimination by the home affairs office, which uses the code "00" to depict someone as alien or mixed race, Indian, or white when they apply for identity documents.
- African News Agency (ANA)
