Mugabe's 'cronies' grab valuable land



Tens of thousands of wild animals face annihilation in a wave of land takeovers in southeastern Zimbabwe by politicians of President Robert Mugabe's party, said the Save Valley Conservancy yesterday.
It said this after hunting permits and land leases were granted to 25 leaders of the Zanu-PF under an empowerment programme. The consortium said "greedy individuals" - including a provincial governor and a cabinet minister - wrongly claimed it was white dominated.
The conservancy said Mugabe had used colour as "a racial tool" to collapse world-renowned conservation efforts for short-term gain. Save is a habitat for elephant, zebra, giraffe, as well as the nation's second largest surviving population of endangered black rhinoceros.