Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has said he has no regrets about being part of a regime which presided over the seizure of white-owned farms.
Under his predecessor Robert Mugabe, white farmers were evicted in favour of landless black people from 2000 by a controversial policy that wrecked agriculture and triggered an economic collapse.
But Mnangagwa, declared winner of historic first elections since Mugabe’s downwall, said he did not regret being part of the administration that pushed the reforms through – and appeared to blame the British for the crisis which then unfolded.
In an interview with Sky News, he said it was time to ‘let bygones be bygones’ and said Britain was better when a woman was in charge of the country.
Zimbabwe’s president Mnangagwa has said he has no regrets about being part of a regime which presided over the seizure of white-owned farms
The land reforms prompted western sanctions and Zimbabwe’s exit from the Commonwealth.
But Mnangagwa, dubbed the Crocodile, told Sky News: ‘I don’t regret, Zanu-PF doesn’t regret and the people of Zimbabwe don’t regret… despite the suffering that came on our people as a result of the sanctions, we do not regret acquiring our land again.’
He then suggested that ‘things are better’ in Britain when a woman is leading the country.
‘In 1979 when we had Margaret Thatcher, she stopped our war and brought us to the table and we got our independence… this time we have Prime Minister Theresa May.
‘Upon my inauguration she sent an envoy to meet me to say, can we re-engage…so we have re-engaged and it’s so beautiful. So I would wish Britain would continue to elect women prime ministers.’
Before the elections, Mnangagwa said his government was ‘racially blind’ and needed the expertise of everyone across the economy.
Zimbabwe’s white population has fallen to less than one percent of the country’s 16 million after Mugabe imposed the policy to expropriate farms in 2000.
Agricultural output crashed in the aftermath, with investors leaving and mass unemployment forcing millions of Zimbabweans out of the country to seek work.
Over the weekend, Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe ally, has called for unity after presidential rival Nelson Chamisa rejected the results, insisting he was the real winner of an election marred by a deadly crackdown on opposition supporters.

Under Mnangagwa’s predecessor Robert Mugabe, white farmers were evicted in favour of landless black people from 2000 by a controversial policy that wrecked agriculture and triggered an economic collapse
At least six people died after troops in the capital Harare opened fire on demonstrators Wednesday, sparking an international outcry and raising grim memories of post-election violence under Mugabe’s repressive rule.
Mnangagwa has accused Chamisa’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of fomenting the unrest, but said he would set up an independent commission to investigate the killings.
Some 24 opposition members appeared in court charged with ‘public violence’ during the protests, accused of smashing windows at offices of the ruling ZANU-PF party and setting fire to vehicles.
They were remanded in custody until a bail hearing on Monday.
Defence lawyer Denford Halimani said the 16 men and eight women had been caught up in an ‘opportunistic dragnet’ against the opposition.
Mnangagwa has insisted that Monday’s landmark election was ‘free, fair and credible’, hailing the vote as a fresh start as he pushes for an end to Zimbabwe’s international isolation.
International observers praised the peaceful conduct of the vote, though EU monitors said Mnangagwa enjoyed an ‘un-level playing field’ including heavy state media coverage.
Mnangagwa won 50.8 percent against Chamisa’s 44.3 percent, according to official results – just enough to avoid a presidential run-off.
Chamisa, a 40-year-old pastor and lawyer, has urged his supporters to refrain from violence as he prepares to challenge the results in court.
‘We won but they declared the opposite. You voted but they cheated,’ he said on Twitter on Saturday.

Former colonial power Britain said it remained ‘deeply concerned by the violence following the elections and the disproportionate response from the security forces’
Mnangagwa, 75, has said Chamisa is free to mount a legal challenge, though such a move appears to have little chance of changing the result.
A former right-hand man to Mugabe, Mnangagwa was chosen to lead ZANU-PF after the brief military intervention last November that ousted the autocrat after 37 years in power.
Mnangagwa was allegedly involved in violence and intimidation during the 2008 elections when the opposition pulled out of the run-off following the deaths of at least 200 supporters in attacks.
Hailing the election as ‘a festival of unfettered freedom’, he has pledged to represent all Zimbabweans, including those who did not vote for him.
But rights groups have expressed concern that heavy-handed policing to prevent more opposition protests is a sign of how he intends to govern.
Amnesty International said more than 60 people had been ‘arbitrarily arrested’ in a post-election clampdown on the opposition.
Former colonial power Britain said it remained ‘deeply concerned by the violence following the elections and the disproportionate response from the security forces’.
Overnight, residents said they had seen troops beating up civilians in Chitungwiza, a sprawling satellite town south of Harare.
A journalist from the independent NewsDay newspaper was briefly detained Friday night while trying to report on a deployment of troops in the suburb of Kuwandzana, according to press freedom group MISA Zimbabwe.
Seeking to lift Zimbabwe’s pariah status, Mnangagwa is making a push for badly needed foreign investment, pronouncing the country ‘open for business’ on Friday.
Mugabe left Zimbabwe’s economy in tatters after presiding over the seizure of white-owned farms and hyperinflation.
Anthoni Van Nieuwkerk, an international relations professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, said Mnangagwa was well aware that his recovery plan required ‘goodwill and support’ from the international community.
‘If they roll out the soldiers – beyond what happened on Wednesday – throughout the country to suppress dissent, and if more people are killed, then this will spell no good news for this new incoming president,’ he told AFP.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on all Zimbabweans to accept the result, while the United States urged the opposition to show ‘graciousness in defeat’.
North Korea – a former close ally of Mugabe’s – congratulated his successor, wishing him ‘good health and happiness’.