SA Chiefs Heap Rare Praise On Zimbabwe

Source from:  The Daily News (Harare) 03/09/2005

Zimbabwe, currently reeling under a barrage of international criticism for its preparations for the March 31 parliamentary elections, has won some rare praise from a group of South African chiefs that visited the country last week. The traditional leaders, who were invited by Zimbabwe's local government minister Ignatius Chombo to witness the success of the controversial land reform programme, returned to South Africa impressed by what they had seen. However, they did not want South Africa to follow the same route. The six-man delegation led by Mpiyezintombi Nzimela, the chairman of the National House of Traditional Leaders, said they had travelled around the country visiting new settlements. They also had the chance to chat personally with President Robert Mugabe. "We were pleased. The land was given back to its rightful owners," Nzimela told Sapa. Among the problems the delegation had observed was the effects of the current drought, the fact that no crops had been planted on some of the farms and excessive bush clearance. But Nzimela said the Zimbabwean government was "doing everything it could to come to the rescue" and said it was not the government's fault if the land was degraded. "He (Mugabe) explained how it came to a point where people were saying they could not wait any more, and pushing government to take the matter into their own hands," said Nzimela, speaking of the take-over of white-owned farms in that country. This sort of action was not necessary in South Africa, Nzimela said. "Our programme is going a bit too slowly, but we have not reached a point where we say enough is enough." The displaced white farmers have since become much sought after in the rest of Africa, establishing flourishing new ventures in countries such as Mozambique, Zambia and Nigeria. In the meantime, Zimbabwe has suffered a massive drop in agricultural ouitput, especially the major tobacco and maize crops. Mugabe recently blamed this setback on "cellphone farmers" - fat cats who hold on to land for speculative purposes while showing no interest in tilling the land. The delegation had also met with Zimbabwean chiefs and traditional leaders. "Our mission was to discuss the possibility of establishing a continental house of traditional leaders in Africa. They welcomed the idea," Nzimela said. Traditional leaders could be more influential in matters threatening the continent, like HIV/Aids and conflict, if they had a regional body, he said. The visit was marred by the death of one of the members of the delegation, Malungisa Gobe, in a car accident on Thursday. The accident happened 80km from Masvingo, when a tyre burst as the group was travelling there from Bulawayo . "Even now we are still struggling to recover from the shock," Nzimela said. Gobe was the chief executive officer in the National House of Traditional Leaders. Two other members of the house, spokesperson Sibusiso Nkosi and Chief M.E Mabi, the North West chairperson, were injured together with a Zimbabwean travelling with them. Nkosi and Mabi were airlifted to Harare for treatment to their backs, legs and shoulders but were released later. Enditem