We’ll repossess land, says Biti

Gibson Nyikadzino Herald Correspondent

Aspiring Harare East legislator and Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim co-vice president Tendai Biti last Saturday reiterated that his party will repossess land from blacks who benefited from the historic land reform programme.

He said the Government’s land reform programme, which benefited over 315 000 households, was a failure while addressing a handful of party supporters in the constituency’s Ward 9.

Biti also attacked the land reform programme as a waste of time while defending the colonial multiple farm ownership system by whites, adding that blacks could only be successful working as farm labourers.

The implementation of Zimbabwe’s land reform exercise saw Government transferring over 65 percent of prime land owned by around five thousand white farmers to the black majority.

Biti said if blacks worked for whites in the farms, it would be an opportunity for them to own houses in suburbs such as Chishawasha.

“Before the land reform, there was a multiple ownership of farms by whites, but today, the land reform has become a waste of time. It would be nice my friends that after you have worked here on Ian Ross’ farm, then in the end you own your house with three or four bedrooms in Chishawasha,” said Biti.

He said the land reform in Zimbabwe proved that blacks were incapable of producing food for the nation and that his party’s goal is to return land to the “proper farmer”.