Posted on 01/26/2003 12:48:25 PM PST by Clive
\ THE ministry of state responsible for Land Reform has produced a damning land audit report which highlights the systematic looting of prime farms by senior government officials and Zanu PF cronies, The Standard has learnt.
The explosive report is a culmination of a land audit exercise carried out by the ministry to assess the status and ownership of farms acquired under the controversial land reform programme.
Highly placed government sources told The Standard yesterday that Flora Buka, the minister of state for Land Reform, was sitting on the damning report, which should have been presented to President Mugabe by now.
They said senior government officials and politburo members were among several influential people implicated in the looting of prime farms by Zanu PF cronies, at the expense of the landless people.
"The report authenticates reports that government officials and Zanu PF cronies have corruptly awarded themselves more than one farm in various provinces. Names of several top government officials, army, police and CIO officers and many others are appearing in several provinces. In short, the report paints a classic picture of looting that has characterised the affairs of the party over the years," said the source.
The ministry started auditing farms in October last year and completed the exercise in early December after touring all the provinces.
Contacted for comment, Buka admitted that there were problems associated with the talked about land reform exercise which saw thousands of white farmers being driven off their land.
"We are in the finalisation phase of the report and we are going to publish it soon. It has some problems but we are not at liberty to discuss them with the press now,'' she said.
So far, government claims to have resettled over 300 000 families under the A1 model scheme as well as about 51 000 others under the A2 model scheme. Most of these A2 model farmers did not take up their pieces of land.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary portfolio committee on land and agriculture has also started making field visits to resettled farms to assess the ownership status and level of production on the farms in the wake of reports that most of the new farmers have deserted their plots.
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