Farmers defy Mugabe deadline-Hundreds risk arrest as they refuse to leave their land

Guardian/UK ^ | 8/09/02 | James Astill in Nairobi

[kattracks]

Zimbabwe's white farmers mostly defied a government deadline for them to leave their land at midnight last night, with many finding a frail hope of reprieve in a last-minute court ruling.

Only a handful of the 2,900 farmers now liable for eviction under President Robert Mugabe's land-seizure laws said they expected imminent arrest, despite the threat of a two-year prison sentence for remaining in their homes.

Human rights groups said one white farmer was beaten by squatters on his farm in central Zimbabwe yesterday morning, but did not release further details.

In the absence of Mr Mugabe, who is in Singapore, government officials have given mixed messages on what action the farmers can expect.

During crisis talks with several hundred farmers on Wednesday, Joseph Msika, the vice-president, warned that the law would be enforced "without hesitation". But he was also at pains to say he was not a racist, and added: "We will bang our heads together and find a solution."

Joseph Made, the agriculture minister, said later that some of the farmers would not be evicted right away, though he did not say how many.

But Ignatius Chombo, the local government minister, threatened that all those defying the orders "will be arrested and dealt with by police". "It is fairly straightforward as far as I am concerned," he said.

The orders followed legislation in May to speed up the land-grabbing programme. A 45-day notice to stop work was given to 2,900 of Zimbabwe's 4,500 white farmers. They were given another 45 days to leave their land.

Hundreds of farmers defied the first deadline by continuing to farm, but only 14 were arrested.

The high court ruled late on Wednesday that the government could not seize a farm in north-western Zimbabwe, owned by Andrew Kockett, because it had not informed the bank it was mortgaged with.

Mr Kockett said yesterday: "Farmers in the same situation as me - which is I believe the majority - in very few cases or in no cases has the bondholder been served with these notices."

John Worswick, of the campaign group Justice for Agriculture, said: "This is extremely significant. This means that any other farmer in the same predicament - and that means the vast majority of us - cannot be evicted."

He conceded that some farmers had already been evicted by government thugs despite being protected by law. But, he said: "All we're trying to do is to establish our rights within the law. If the government is not prepared to respect those rights, it will only highlight its illegality."

Sternford Moyo, the president of the Zimbabwean bar association, said he doubted whether the rule of law would prevail on the farmers' side.

"It's not a situation you can predict with any confidence," he said. "Just because something's unlawful doesn't mean it's not going to happen. A lot of unlawful things have already happened in this country."

According to one independent estimate, Zimbabwean and other banks and financial institutions stand to lose nearly £8bn in loans to evicted farmers. This loss follows Mr Mugabe's mismanagement of the economy in the last decade during which it has shrunk by at least a third.

Mr Mugabe says his land reform programme is a necessary righting of historical wrongs, whereby British colonisers seized 90% of Zim babwe's most productive land. But with the president's cronies primarily standing to gain from the programme, Zimbabwe's opposition politicians, and many poor Zimbabweans, describe it as theft.

Jonathan Moyo, the information minister, has been rewarded for his vigorous defence of Mr Mugabe's reforms with a farm in the eastern Manicaland province.

Air Vice Marshal Perence Shiri - a military figure accused of involvement in several massacres in Matebeland in the early 1980s - has reportedly taken a farm in Mashonaland East.

According to local farmers, Mr Msika, the vice-president, has already moved his cattle on to a previously white-owned farm in Matabeleland.

Agricultural output has been halved by the two-year crisis, compounding the effects of a recent drought in the south. By the end of the year, the UN world food programme predicts that more than six million Zimbabweans will be on food aid.

"Land reform is important, but is secondary to feeding the country," said a spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change yesterday.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

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[Southack]

I don't get it. Why aren't they burning their homes and crops, and then getting out of that country?

[Clive]

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