Jonannesburg - South Africa's Oppenheimer dynasty is planning to hand over 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres) in Zimbabwe for settlement by impoverished black farmers, a spokesman for the family said yesterday.
The Harare-based newspaper the Daily News reported yesterday that the government planned to seize 65,000 hectares from the gold-mining giant, the Anglo-American Corporation, which is controlled by the Oppenheimers. But in Johannesburg, family spokesman Mr Clifford Elphick said: "There is no seizure of land. Nicky [Mr Nicky Oppenheimer] has been making some proposals and what the government said yesterday is the result of ongoing talks between himself and the Zimbabwean government."
The South African-based company owns Hippo Valley, a large sugar estate in southern Zimbabwe and 50,000 hectares of cattle ranches in the western part of the country.
The Zimbabwean government has seized 4,558 white-owned farms totalling 8.8 million hectares since it launched its land reform scheme last year.