Zimbabwe Begins Settling Blacks on Farms

HARARE, Zimbabwe —  Zimbabwe has begun implementing its controversial land-redistribution program, settling black families on acreage seized from white commercial farmers, officials said Wednesday.

The government has said it plans to take over nearly half the 30 million acres owned by about 4,500 white farmers. Whites make up about 1% of Zimbabwe’s population.

Officials denied media reports that some beneficiaries had abandoned their land hours after it was given to them because there were no houses, roads or water.

A Ministry of Agriculture spokesman said that hundreds of people had been allocated plots in the southern African country and that reports suggesting that recipients were walking away from their new homes were “just malicious.”

“What is happening is that people get their land, go back to pack, and the government moves in to provide the basic facilities where they are not available,” said the official, who declined to be named.

A “fast-track” resettlement program was launched this week in the country’s eight administrative provinces by provincial governors, initially on 200 of the more than 800 farms the government earmarked in May for seizure, the official said.

The seizures have been strongly criticized by Western governments and donors, with some saying the program will undermine the country’s major source of food, employment and export earnings.

At least 31 people, mostly opposition supporters and including five farmers, were killed during farm invasions by black squatters and a wave of violence that swept Zimbabwe ahead of elections in June.