Mugabe establishes Land Review Committee

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has established a Land Review Committee (LRC) to verify information contained in a land reform audit submitted to cabinet recently, a government spokesman told IRIN on Thursday. The audit, conducted by the minister of state for land reform, Flora Buka, was intended to establish who owned Zimbabwe's farms at the completion of the government's fast-track land reform programme. The controversial programme was initiated to redistribute land, mainly from white commercial farmers to "indigenous" Zimbabweans. Media reports have claimed that it contains details of improprieties in the distribution of the land and that there were anomalies in its compilation. The audit was endorsed by cabinet last week but has not been released to the public. Government press secretary Steyn Berejena said: "It [The LRC] is a natural progression from the audit in a programme as large as the recently completed land reform programme, and will complement and verify the information contained in the audit." It would also address allegations that the land reform policy of "one man one farm" was breached by senior government ministers or other well-connected members of the ruling party. "That will not be the focus of the LRC but they will look at it," he added. The newly established LRC will have two months to gather information which, besides verifying ownership, will include the number of farm workers still present on land, the amount and condition of farm equipment, and the needs of resettled farmers. "The bottom line is to assist farmers' potential to produce and achieve agricultural production," Berejena said. The eight-person committee will be chaired by the former chief secretary to the president and cabinet, Charles Utete, and will work under Buka and the minister of special affairs in the Office of the President, John Nkomo. Eight provincial task teams will assist the committee.