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ZIMBABWE REFUSES TO REVERSE THE LAND REFORM AMID US DEMANDS

Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa David Hamadziripi said the US sanctions were a result of the country’s land reform.

PRETORIA - Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa David Hamadziripi said the United States demands to return property seized in the land reform programme will not be honoured.

The US has made this a condition for sanctions to be lifted.

Hamadziripi attended a symposium at Unisa in Pretoria on Monday to chart the way for South Africa's intervention in the lifting of sanctions.

He said most European Union sanctions have been removed but the US continued making demands.

Hamadziripi said the US sanctions were a result of the country’s land reform.

“It is only when Zimbabwe decided in 2000 to embark on the fast track land reform programme that the sanctions were imposed. So, it’s not a coincidence that the EU sanctions came in 2002.”

He said progress was made with the EU and the country will hold more talks with that region this week but Hamadziripi says the latest US demands will not be met

“They want us to return the land to those who used to own it but as the President [Emmerson] Mnangagwa has said, there is no reversal of the land reform.”

Minister Naledi Pandor has appealed to Zimbabwe’s political leaders to make a united call if they want intervention from other countries.