Harare - The wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Sunday lashed out at the country's white minority population for blocking land reform, state television reported.
"She (Grace Mugabe) said the land imbalances being experienced in the country were a result of the white community in the country that was failing to swallow its pride and give land back to the people," Zimbabwe state television (ZTV) reported her as telling a rally of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Zimbabweans voted last week against a draft national constitution that would have given the government power to seize white-owned farms without compensation and distribute them to the majority black population.
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The no vote was the biggest political setback in Mugabe's 20-year career as leader of the African country, which is suffering its greatest economic hardships since independence from Britain.
Mugabe's critics said the new referendum would give the president, who turns 76 on Monday, more power.
"If the president says land should be given to the people, give him all the support because historically the land is yours," ZTV reported Grace Mugabe as saying.
Some 4 500 white commercial farmers occupy 70 percent of the country's most fertile land.
Zimbabwe's general election is scheduled for April but reports have said that the poll may be delayed until late this year because of the government's defeat in the referendum on constitutional reform. - Reuters
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