Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has called on the remaining white farmers in the country leave the country and leave behind their land for black farmers.
“We say no to whites owning our land and they should go,” Mugabe told his supporters at a rally. Mugabe, 90, has governed Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. He was re-elected president last year with 61% of the vote, defeating his long-standing rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
The president’s Zanu-PF party also gained a parliamentary majority of more than two-thirds, winning 160 of the 210 seats.
Meanwhile, white farmers union has reacted to the statement describing his utterance as regrettable most especially coming at a time that racial tensions were flaring up again.
The president’s critics say his policy of seizing most of Zimbabwe’s white-owned farms caused the country’s economic collapse from 2000-2009.