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Chaos on farms
ZimRights
September 19, 2002

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) is concerned and dismayed by the confusion in the farms today associated with the land re-distribution. Land is repossessed with little or no compensation for developments which is grossly unjust. Heavily armed police details and the army are seen on the farms instilling fear in the farmers. As Zimbabweans we should all be committed to an open society of healing the divisions of the past where government is based on the will of the people and where every citizen is equally protected by law.

ZimRights believes that the agrarian reform is a noble idea aimed at addressing vestiges of the past. The reform should bring a balance of land ownership among Zimbabweans. However of great concern is the chaotic situation on the farms today. There is no coordination between policy and practice. The manner in which the eviction notices are being served smacks of confusion of authority and has left many farmers harassed and traumatised. ZimRights cherishes that these farmers are Zimbabweans and have to be made to feel that they are Zimbabweans. It is evident that people on the ground are grabbing land that they like. This is in total disregard of rules and regulations that govern reasonable equitable distribution of resources.

ZimRights has recently visited farms and witnessed the golden shade of ripening wheat almost ready for harvest and turf of green and healthy wheat which the farmers have planted but who have been thrown off those farms. The new settlers are taking over these assets with no compensation to evicted farmers. Whereas we understand the excitement of the new farmers especially their excitement of being rich overnight we also have to understand the anxiety and frustration on the part of the commercial farmers. In this chaotic situation there is now frustration and insecurity on the part of the farmers, who we believe see themselves as Zimbabweans. This anxiety and frustration in some instances has resulted in commercial farmers destroying the maize seed as in Kwayedza farm, and of the destruction of breeding stock. We condemn any acts of destroying or burying foodstuffs.

We view the act of burying maize or destroying the breeding stock as unpatriotic, indeed as sabotage of the unacceptable kind. These maybe reactions of desperate people who have found no recourse to any law and have failed to get assistance from the normal course of justice. If analysed, we must be grateful that this stage has not reached suicidal levels of the kind we see in the Middle East. This kind of sabotage and unpatriotism is comparable to the even more treacherous act of looting money from the country and banking it or buying holiday resorts outside the country. ZimRights believes that all that money kept by the country's leaders outside the country ought to be brought back to assist the country's crippling foreign currency supply. The concerned individuals should be able to bring the money back, use it to develop Zimbabwe without many questions being asked of them.

ZimRights finds noble the policy of one farmer, one farm particularly on the land currently under redistribution. Events on the ground clearly indicate that farmers with one farm each are being evicted. It is however sad to note that the champions of land redistribution are grabbing more than one farm, some individuals thereby defeating their own policies. ZimRights urges those who have amassed themselves with more than one farm each to give up the excess.

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