Where it goes next is (partly) up to you. The Zimbabwe Independent today castigated the president’s speech, in which Mugabe’s “voice was dark and foreboding when he said ‘we will have no mercy for white people regarding the land, they cannot own our soil.’” On the same day, Mugabe, whose initiatives over the years have aimed at redressing British colonial injustices, also said that whites in Zimbabwe may own companies and apartments in urban areas, but no actual land. He then said that the few whites that survived his policy a decade ago – where gangs of veteran soldiers kicked out some 4,000 white farmers – would also be kicked out.

Mugabe visited a small farming community 120 miles from the capital Harare that was handing out land permits. One Harare business newspaper calls them “not just racist but also unconstitutional, retrogressive, and detrimental.”Īs the Monitor reported July 3, Mr. Now those comments by the long-ruling autocrat are bringing a backlash in Zimbabwe’s beleaguered trade and tourism ministries. President Robert Mugabe’s statement early this month that whites will no longer be allowed to own land in Zimbabwe, and that any white farmers still left will be kicked out, raised eyebrows at home and abroad.

Zimbabwe president speech about racism