Farms seizure to begin

The Zimbabwean government will begin seizing white-owned farms by the end of this week to resettle landless blacks, ‘The Herald’ reported on Wednesday. Quoting Nathan Shamuyarira, the information secretary of the ruling ZANU-PF party, the official newspaper said the first of 160 farms could be seized as early as Friday, and that the government will not pay compensation to the owners. The newspaper added that 20 farms would be nationalised in each of the country’s eight provinces under an “accelerated land redistribution programme”. Shamuyarira said owners of the 160 farms have not contested the seizure. Shamuyarira added that squatters on the other farms not targeted for acquisition “will be required to move from those farms to the newly-acquired farms where they will be given land and settled permanently”.