Zimbabwe -- Mugabe: Farm eviction deadline stands

SABC News (SA) ^ | August 12, 2002

[Clive]

Robert Mugabe, has today told white farmers, who are defying an eviction order from Zimbabwe, that he stands by the August deadline for their removal. "We set ourselves an August deadline for the redistribution of land and that deadline stands," the Zimbabwean president said.

He was speaking during a televised address of the funeral for a former finance minister.

Mugabe's government had ordered 2 900 of the remaining 4 500 white commercial farmers to surrender their lands to black settlers by midnight last Thursday, August 8.

Farming sources have estimated that about 40% of the farmers had obeyed the instruction, but others were holding on in the hope of a reprieve from the country's courts or from Mugabe. Mugabe said the deadline would allow new owners of the land enough time to prepare and plant for the new crop season, which should start in October.

Zimbabwean police earlier said they had no reports of white farmers resisting orders to leave their properties. Farmers' pressure group, Justice for Agriculture, said earlier about 60% of them would refuse to comply. The High Court in Harare ruled late last week that the government was not allowed to seize farms mortgaged by banks. - additional reporting by Reuters

[Clive]

-

[SkyPilot]

Mugabe has to divert Western attention to such matters as "the evils of Colonialism." CNN yesterday parroted his rhetoric about "corrected the injustices of the past."

It is a way for him to shift attention from his own thuggary, abuse, crimes, rigged election, torture, mayhem, brutality, and failed leadership.

And the West will send him money, food, advisors, trucks, and aid when the people begin to starve.

He will play the West like a fiddle.

[Alouette]

Coming soon to a Palestinian state near you.

[backhoe]

I think we need a new acronym:

S.I.C.

Silence...
Ignorance...
Complicity...

... to describe what is happening in southern Africa--
( and other parts of the continent as well )

[Movemout]

I wonder if the incarceration or murder of 1700 farmers will make a dent in the international conscience. I hope that it will but I somehow doubt that anyone cares about this reverse apartheid.

[toddst]

I wonder if the incarceration or murder of 1700 farmers will make a dent in the international conscience. I hope that it will but I somehow doubt that anyone cares about this reverse apartheid.

Wouldn't this situation be an excellent opportunity for the new African organization (can't recall the name) to intervene and protect the white minority from abuse?

[Movemout]

It's the same old organization with a new name. I don't expect much good to come from the renaming. They will look opportunity in the face and decline to act.

[toddst]

. . . They will look opportunity in the face and decline to act.

Ah, well one can hope. What surprises me is the wiillingness to cast aside highly productive commercial farmers as opposed to utilizing them for teaching purposes. Every African nation could benefit from what these experienced farmers have to offer IMO. Just a thought.