Zanu-PF youths target party bigwigs' farms

Outspoken Zanu-PF chairperson for Manicaland province Mubuso Chinguno and his colleagues in the former liberation movement's arm, have threatened to invade farms they claim are underutilised by the party's bigwigs.

The youth league also warned that it would launch a final blitz on the remaining white farmers in the province - in remarks which are consistent with President Robert Mugabe's address to his supporters during his first youth interface rally held in Marondera at the beginning of June.

The threats to invade farms comes as the Lands ministry has launched an audit to ascertain the use of the farms seized from thousands of white commercial farmers during the chaotic and bloody agrarian reforms in 2000.

In an exclusive interview with the Eastern News, Chinguno said youths were fed up of empty promises made by their party over the past three years.

"We have outstanding issues on land and we are not willing to go for another congress to ask for our right to land to be recognised. We have been receiving promises for the past three years.

"If need be, we are going to invade all white-owned farms and those owned by our senior leaders. It's time to take that radical approach," Chinguno threatened.

The firebrand youth wing leader said government should speed up the downsizing exercise of farms to create space for youths to settle.

"We are calling on government to speed up the issue of downsizing…we have a lot of top government and party officials with huge tracts of land that they are not utilising. There is no reason we should leave that as it is.

"A1 farmers are utilising their small pieces of land fully, but the big shots are keeping underutilised huge farms for pride and selfish reasons. We can't afford that luxury," Chinguno fumed.

He said they were also targeting white commercial farmers because many of them were corruptly being kept at the properties.

"There are many white farmers who still own farms in the province because they are being corruptly protected by senior officials in our party," he claimed.

Mugabe has raised concern over white farmers who were using black Zimbabweans as fronts, in order to maintain ownership of their land.

Meanwhile, Chinguno has slammed war veterans for protesting against a Mugabe dynasty, saying they should not criminalise First Lady Grace Mugabe if she has ambitions to replace her 93-year-old husband.

He argued that in the United States the Bush family had a father and son (George Bush senior and junior) taking up the presidency while Jeb Bush was governor, but accusations of a family dynasty have not been raised.

"We are worried about the rogue war veterans.

"We hear them saying Mugabe wants to create a dynasty but when Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was elevated there was a vacancy in Chirumhanzu-Zibagwe which was filled by his wife Auxillia.

"Why did the same people remain quiet if they are against a wife succeeding her husband? This has also happened in Argentina.

"Botswana too had a father and later, son leading the country, the Bush family in the USA and Kabilas in the DRC," Chingunu argued.

"We should not try to criminalise ambition . . . everyone in life aspires to get a better position.

"If she (Grace) has ambition to become president then there should not be anything wrong with that because it's her constitutional right. These rogue war veterans should not demonise her for that," Chingunu said.

Disaffected veteran of the country's liberation struggle have been rowing with the First Family ever since they issued a damning communiqué against the 93-year-old leader last year in July.

The war veterans have publicly expressed their desire to see Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe as leader of Zanu-PF and the country.

Secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) -Victor Matemadanda - is currently standing trial for insulting Grace after he was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with message the authorities said insulted the president.

Grace, however, is rumoured to be privately holding ambitions of succeeding her increasingly frail husband although a faction fighting to stop Mnangagwa's bid - Generation 40 - has recently appeared to punt Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi as its preferred candidate.