Gold miners in Zimbabwe seize Grace Mugabe's farm amid land dispute
Hundreds of gold miners have taken over a farm belonging to Zimbabwe's former first lady Grace Mugabe as a dispute with several mining syndicates intensifies.
A miner carries a load of ore at Manzou Farm, owned by Grace Mugabe, wife of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, in Mazowe, Zimbabwe on April 5, 2018.
Dozens of gold miners in Zimbabwe have seized a farm belonging to former ruler Robert Mugabe's wife Grace amid an ongoing dispute between the former first lady and several mining syndicates who were granted a high court order allowing them to operate on the farm.
Zimbabwe embarked on a violent land reform programme in 2000, taking over white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.
But Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has already scrapped Mugabe's indigenisation law which forced foreign firms to cede 51 percent stakes to locals. He said the law will only apply to the platinum and diamond sectors.
"We have done nothing wrong and we are not stealing from anyone, we are just working as Zimbabweans and former president Mugabe brought indigenisation," said Chamunorwa Kanengoni, a miner.
Human right activists have long said Mugabe's indigenisation policy started in the year 2000, allowed land to be seized illegally.
Under Mugabe's rule, the key agriculture sector collapsed and hyperinflation swiped out savings.
TRT World's Adesewa Josh has the details.
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