Farmers angry over reported land grab by Zimbabwe president’s daughter

Reports that a white family was thrown off their farm to make way for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s 24-year-old daughter have angered the debt-ridden country’s commercial farmers. Mugabe’s supporters launched a wave of farm seizures in 2000, which were later adopted as government policy in which white farmers were evicted to resettle black people. The land reforms drastically reduced agricultural production, as most of the beneficiaries lacked both farming equipment and expertise. Critics also say the seizures mostly benefitted Mugabe’s allies. Bona Mugabe is the 90-year-old president’s only daughter.

The continuing arbitrary takeover of land is not doing us any good. There is no money to bring the economy back on its feet and there is no access to international support.

Charles Taffs, president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)

Although under the land reforms an individual is not allowed to own more than one farm, Mugabe’s wife Grace reportedly owns several. The 49-year-old First Lady also sparked ire last week when she was awarded a PhD in Sociology by the University of Zimbabwe – just a few months after registering for the course. The degree was conferred by her husband, the chancellor at the university. The Zimbabwe students union on Friday demanded the resignation of authorities at the country’s top university after it awarded the “miraculous” doctorate.

Mugabe Africa