Government denies top officials own more than one farm

The Zimbabwean government has denied that any of its ministers was allocated more than one farm during the country's controversial land reform programme. The official newspaper, The Herald, reported on Thursday that the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement had written to several ministers inquiring about their alleged ownership of more than one farm. Speaking to IRIN on Friday, government spokesperson Steyn Berejena confirmed that letters had been sent to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Joseph Made, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Information and Publicity, Jonathan Moyo, and the Minister of Transport and Communications, Christopher Mushohwe. "But none of them owned the farms. It turned out that a relative of minister Mushowe's, who also has the same surname, owned a farm. Minister Made's brother, Ambrose Made, who works for the United Nations Development Programme, owns a farm. The ministry [of lands] mistakenly assumed that these ministers owned the farms," Berejena explained. He said the fact that these letters were sent out indicated that President Robert Mugabe's government "was committed to redressing any anomalies that might have taken place while the land reform process was being fast-tracked." Berejena reiterated that the issue of multiple ownership was a serious one, and the government would continue to pursue it. He confirmed that the ministry of lands had identified cases of multiple ownership and had rectified them, but was unable to provide the numbers. Prior to his appointment to the ministry of lands in February this year, John Nkomo was minister of special affairs and headed a presidential enquiry into serious irregularities in land reform. He was charged with following up on the recommendations of a land audit commission led by Charles Utete. The Utete commission's report, issued late last year, revealed serious violations of the one-man one-farm policy by top government and ruling party officials, which, in some cases, had disenfranchised the small-scale farmers that land reform was supposed to benefit.