This Day in History: October 14, 1997
Additional Date: October 14, 1997
President Robert Mugabe renewed his pledge to persist with his government's controversial land acquisition programme in Zimbabwe. Through this programme the government was not going to compensate the predominantly White commercial farmers for the land confiscated for resettlement by Black peasant farmers. Mugabe defended this move by stating that the land was never bought by the colonists. In spite of the fact that this outrageous move was likely to cause major problems in agriculture, the Zimbabwean government went ahead with it. Even though the buildings were likely to be paid for, it did not compensate for the effort and money that was invested over the years and it was harrowing to see everything going down the drain in a split second. Mugabe even challenged former colonial ruler Britain, saying that if she wanted to see the farmers compensated, Britain herself should send money as it was her own prerogative to take care of her people outside England. The programme has thus far seen 2000 out of more than 4000 farms being occupied by war veterans - farms initially intended for Black peasant farmers. It also should be noted that this had a bad outcome as those that had taken over the farms, were using them for different purposes and lacked the know-how in farming. Most importantly the citizens of Zimbabwe are badly affected due to the shortage of food and the once flourishing tobacco industry is close to collapse.