There was rare public questioning for President Mugabe over his land-grab programme yesterday during an investment conference — and his answer did not exactly reassure visiting foreign businessmen.
He told the conference, which was convened to raise finance to rebuild the economy after the past ten years of misrule, that “not necessarily” every white farm would be seized.
Mr Mugabe also asserted, to much incredulity, that Zimbabwe had paid white farmers “compensation for developments and improvements”, adding that compensation should be paid by the British Government.
The false assertion came in answer to an unexpected question from Trevor Gifford, the president of the predominantly white Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU). Mr Gifford wanted to know who was going to compensate white farmers and why they were