By AFPMore by this AuthorHARAREZimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday said the country will not return land seized from former white commercial farmers almost two decades ago. LAND REFORMSHis statement comes two months after white farmer Robert Smart got his land back after being evicted in June by ex-president Robert Mugabe's government. Zimbabwe embarked on a violent land reform programme in 2000, taking over white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks. The government has indicated it will issue 99-year bankable leases to beneficiaries of land reform but Mnangagwa on Saturday said land owners must be more productive. We must mechanise and modernise our agriculture," he said, adding that the land reforms were "irreversible".

Source: Daily Nation February 10, 2018 15:33 UTC