MUTARE-Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa says government blundered during the chaotic land reform by allowing landless blacks to invade timber plantations.
Addressing a business meeting in Mutare organised by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Chinamasa said allowing blacks to invade timber plantations was a mistake which government will now seek to redress by removing settlers in an effort to revive the once vibrant sector.
“We are in this situation (declining economic conditions) because we dared to take the land if you trace all your businesses in 1998-99 they were doing okay you were making money, came the land reform everything went down and that was the cost we had to pay.
“We should admit our faults as government in areas that we have erred. It was never a wise idea to go against government policy to allocate plantations to individuals.
“These people had no capacity to run timber plantations. The industry requires huge capital investments, huge loans with soft interests over a long period of time.
“But these illegal settlers only had capacity to harvest and could not afford to replant. Right now we don’t have plantations to talk of and as government we are saying they should be removed from the plantations” said Chinamasa.
Timber Producers Federation of Zimbabwe (TPF) Chief Executive, Darlington Duwa said while they welcome evacuation of illegal settlers, government should act urgently but Chinamasa said the matter was a political minefield.
“Yes I do agree that the matter should be addressed with urgency. But you have to understand that most of the illegal settlements are politically motivated and as such hard to deal with. It would have been easier if the people were intellectuals,” said Chinamasa.
Timber experts say the industry has regressed 25 years in less than a decade due to the land reform which made protection of woodlots more difficult, with losses estimated to be over 30,000 hectares.
The sector’s performance was also affected on many fronts with over $2 billion in potential revenue lost and over 3,000 jobs due to extensive deforestation by settlers.
