Returned to Harare from “compassionate leave” in South Africa, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was expected to meet this week with his Agriculture and Home Affairs ministers as well as the Commercial Farmers Union to discuss farm invasions.
Mr. Tsvangirai has absented himself from most government activities following the death of his wife, Susan, in a highway accident on March 6 which traumatized the nation. But aides said he would take part in a small number of critical meetings this week.
CFU sources said representatives of the organization have met with a number of ministries seeking relief from the latest wave of property seizures in the name of land reform. Only a few hundred white-owned commercial farms remain after nearly a decade of efforts to put land into indigenous hands - though top officials have been the main beneficiaries.
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Tsvangirai can halt the farm invasions which received the blessing of President Robert Mugabe, setting a possible intra-government confrontation.
Political analyst Farai Maguwu of the Center for Community Development in Mutare told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that Mr. Tsvangirai finds himself in a quandary in that halting farm invasions is important to encourage international donors to fund the country's economic recovery - but Mr. Mugabe is unlikely to relent on the issue.
More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...
