by Brightface Mutema

Gone are the days when some communities are referred to as minority group in Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

 President Mnangagwa said this while addressing scores of White people at the Borrowdale Race Course in Harare yesterday.  This was a historic meeting between a Zimbabwean President and this group of people, most whom have known no other home than Zimbabwe.

The Land Reform Programme spearheaded by former president Robert Mugabe saw most of the Whites fleeing the country after their pieces of land have been gazetted for resettlement. Those who were spared by the Land Reform Programme lived in uncertainty as they feared that their farms would also be gazetted.

 He allayed the fear that was still among the Whites especially on the security of pieces of land they have. He told them that the issuance of bankable 99 year leases was for everybody regardless of colour or creed.

“There is no racial discrimination on the 99year leases so that we feel secure to invest on our pieces of land,” said the President.

The President spoke strongly about the need for this White community to feel at home as they are also Zimbabweans.

“Let me assure you now that whatever challenges you are facing in every sphere of your life, will be a thing of the past. Let us move forward, complementing each other because this is our country together,” said the President.

As a parting shot the President assured the Whites that there are no minority groups in this and as soon as he is given his full mandate after July 30, he will make sure that even birth records will all be the same as other Zimbabweans. The tradition had been to indicate whether one was alien or other race.