29 March 2011

Zimbabwe land reforms now target wildlife reserves

Zimbabwe's government is about to implement a Wildlife-Based Land Reform Policy, which will force the country’s predominantly white wildlife conservancy owners to hand over 51% of their shares to black Zimbabweans. A total of 59 "indigenous people" are getting leases from the Government or sharing conservancies with white former owners. Thirty-nine of these people were allocated leases in Masvingo, 21 in the Midlands, and three in the Matabeleland region.
Officials have also promised to tackle any operational problems that might arise.
According to Parks and wildlife authority director-general Vitalis Chadenga, the project was "one of the unfinished businesses of the country's land reform programme."
Under land reforms launched by long-time President Robert Mugabe in 2000, Zimbabwean authorities seized, led by pro-Mugabe militants, farms from thousands of white owners in what the country's president called a correction of historical imbalances in the former British colony.
As a result Zimbabwe is now facing a massive food & health crisis and strong economic problems.

1 comment:

  1. Why dont the tour operators and hotels in Zimbabwe stand together and either transfer the animals to South Africa and close down their business's. We are just going to read more terrible stories of animals being abused tortured and diying of starvation.

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