Zimbabwe: Chaos of the land seizures

Most Zimbabweans, even white ones, agree that the land acquisition programme that targeted vast white-owned land for redistribution to landless blacks was vital and long overdue. But the manner in which the government of President Robert Mugabe supervised the haphazard take-over was what threw Zimbabwe into chaos. Mugabe chose to turn a blind eye to the brewing crisis and, riding high on the crest of populism, forcibly took back the vast swathes of land. On a tour of Zimbabwe this week, journalists from the East African Standard came face to face with the victims and beneficiaries of the land take-overs that put Harare at loggerheads with London and the Commonwealth.