Parties in the inclusive Government did not sign the Global Political Agreement for a new Constitution, but to pave way for an undisputed election result, President Mugabe has said.

Addressing the belated 2011 Annual Chiefs’ Conference at the Large City Hall here yesterday, the President said the parties wanted to deal with issues of alleged violence in the 2008 elections.

“The quarrel that led us into the Global Poli-tical Agreement was not about the Constitution, but it was about allegations of violence in the elections in 2008.

“Our neighbours were saying there was a lot of violence during the elections and we should have another election without violence,” he said.

The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defe-nce Forces said Sadc and the African Union urged the parties to hold elections without violence.

“It was never the issue of the Constitution, no, no, no but another election without violence and not the Constitution,” he said.

President Mugabe said Zanu-PF wanted to go for elections using the Kariba Draft as the basis of the new Constitution.

“Our colleagues in the inclusive Government, the MDC-T and MDC-M, said let’s have a people-driven Constitution because the views of the people were not included.

“Now let’s have an outreach because some people did not have an input.”

President Mugabe said the draft Constitution was ready and the Principals will soon meet and put a timeline for the referendum.

He, however, said Zanu-PF will not tolerate any delays from its partners.

“If there is any dragging of the feet, the party says no. If they want to drag their feet on the Constitution, there is a clause where parties can withdraw from the GPA,” he said.

He however, said Zanu-PF will not seek to withdraw from the GPA.

“We wanted it to go along reasonably, but we have now discovered that our partners are dragging their feet,” he said.

“We do not want to hear excuses. Our previous elections were marred by allegations of violence and let’s correct that. No to violence!”

“But I am told that the draft is ready. We will look at it and look at the timeframe. If it is presented and accepted by the people and Parliament, then elections.

“We don’t want to hear any complaints. We want peaceful elections. We don’t want any fighting.” Turning to the drought and looming food shortages, the President said the grain loan scheme meant to alleviate hunger must be properly managed to ensure it served its purpose.

“We are going to have a programme to provide food to various areas. The programme must be well managed in a manner we have done before, not in the manner we have seen with inputs when some leaders took them themselves.

“We don’t want that kind of leadership. We need to ensure that people survive, please chiefs help in the implementation of the distribution programme,” he said.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made on Wednesday told chiefs that the Government has extended the grain loan scheme facility to the 2012/13 farming season after 500 000 hectares of the 1,6 million ha of land planted in this year’s farming season were declared a write off due to poor rains.

With the land now in the hands of its rightful owners, the President said beneficiaries of the land reform programme must utilise the resource fully.

Responding to chiefs’ request for more than 80 of their peers to be allocated farms, President Mugabe said while ideally the Government wanted all of them to have land, it was practically impossible for that to happen.

“It is not everybody who has it, it cannot be possible. Communal farming, yes. We have taken note of the fact that some chiefs don’t have it, but it should be a celebration to fully utilise it.

“It is the role of chiefs to encourage maximum productivity on the farms. Land was not provided so that it can be a status symbol,” he said, warning that the impending land audit will result in the withdrawal of under-utilised land from farmers and those leasing it to white former commercial farmers.

The President urged farmers in Matabeleland to intensify livestock rearing and irrigation farming.

He said now that indigenous blacks are in control of the agriculture sector, focus is now on other sectors of the economy, particularly mining.

He said foreign firms must adhere to the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act on making available at least 51 percent of their shareholding to indigenous people.

Even the 49 percent that foreigners could legally hold, the President said, was too much wealth and urged the country’s highly skilled and educated professionals to constitute themselves into consortia to secure the 51 percent shareholding.

Turning to his prepared speech, the President said community shareownership schemes that have been launched at Zimplats in Mashonaland West and Mimosa and Murowa in the Midlands showed that the indigenisation and economic empowerment had gathered momentum.

The schemes, he said, put traditional leaders, the custodians of the natural resource, at the centre of community empowerment and development.

On African affairs, President Mugabe called for vigilance and defence of the national interest.

He singled out Libya where Nato attacked that country to assist rebels to unseat and ultimately murder President Muammar Gaddafi.

Although the conference is being held in Bulawayo, Mashonaland East is actually hosting the annual event.

The provincial leadership in Mashonaland East felt Marondera, which was supposed to host the event, last year, did not have proper facilities to host the hundreds of chiefs and their spouses.

The theme of the event is “Traditional leaders: Realigning culture towards dynamic community development and empowerment.”

A representative of Kenyan chiefs presented a gown to President Mugabe.

He described the President as the “chief of chiefs” who had his people and country at heart.