Idle farm owners accused of sabotaging economy

THE Member of Parliament for Pelandaba-Mpopoma constituency, Joseph Tshuma, has said there are people owning multiple farms in the country that they are failing to utilise, thereby sabotaging economic revival efforts.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Tshuma said although Command Agriculture brought food security resulting in the country saving foreign currency that was previously expended on maize imports, some selfish people were taking the country backwards.

"So we want to commend that but now again, whilst we are talking about the issue of the Command Agriculture and agriculture as a sector which is an important component in the economy of Zimbabwe, you will find that we have other comrades who have got more than two farms belonging to one person.

You ask yourself, is this person pulling together in the same direction with what the President wants us to achieve and with what we want to achieve. Any normal meaning Zimbabwean who wants the economy to tick again will not be greedy enough to go and grab two farms yet they are not able to actually farm on one of those farms," he said.

"You find that when you go out there on those farm lands, most of the farms are underutilised. Even other farms that used to kick, for example I was in Esigodini where we used to have a very good farm that produced oranges, today it is an eye sore but somebody took it. When they took it what did they do about it? Those are the people that are our biggest let down and those are the people that we need to talk about because the President has done everything."

He said even in the mining sector, there are some white people holding onto 250 mining claims yet they cannot even work on one claim.

The MP said a single claim can be on 10 hectares of land and those holding onto many mining claims that they are not utilising are doing so because they have money and are able to always renew their certificates.

Tshuma said the mining claims were being kept for speculative and not for economic reasons. He said he was disappointed that while President Mugabe points the country towards the right direction, some people choose to go astray.

"Madam Speaker, I must hasten to say that I am a bit disappointed though that the President all the time gives direction. He leads us in the right and correct path but some of us decide to take a left turn and do exactly the opposite of what the President would have said or what is demanded by your particular office. Madam Speaker, the President in his speech talked about the issue of the economy and how we can grow it but when you look at the reality on the ground, it is totally different and the opposite of how the President wants us to drive our issues," he said.

"You see, the President gave us enabling factors for us to prosper but what have we done about it. I remember sometime back farmers were given implements like diesel, fertilisers and you name it, and they sold them. They did not put them into production and our economy started tethering and you wonder what is happening. It is because we have got some people that are not well meaning, who are not putting our country and economy first. People who want to have it the easy way, taking short cuts and that brings us 10 steps backwards Madam Speaker."