Mugabe to Invoke Powers for Redistribution of Land

President Robert Mugabe will invoke special powers in the next 10 days to allow the forced acquisition of white-owned land in Zimbabwe for redistribution to landless blacks, his spokesman said Sunday.

George Charamba said the special presidential powers will last six months and are essential in the absence of parliament, which was dissolved in April ahead of parliamentary elections expected to take place in the next few months.

“Because parliament is not in session, the president is going to invoke temporary presidential powers, which are provided for in the constitution, to amend sections of the Lands Acquisition Act,” Charamba said.

Self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war against white minority rule, which ended in 1980, have invaded hundreds of white-owned farms, with government backing, to demand land redistribution.

On Saturday, the state-owned Ziana news agency quoted Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying the legal framework for the government seizure of land would be put in place in 10 days.

Meanwhile, in a rare intervention, police arrested the leader of a group of squatters after they beat workers on a white-owned farm, officials said Sunday, but squatters staged other attacks elsewhere.

A national leader of the squatters said he would seek to cool the standoff.

No additional deaths were reported Sunday, but squatters attacked laborers overnight on three farms in Mvurwi, 60 miles north of Harare, farmers union officials said.