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Mugabe
in fresh farm evictions
ZimOnline
(SA)
September
19, 2006
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=15165
"We take this
opportunity to tell you that you are not allowed to move your farming
equipment"
Masvingo - President
Robert Mugabe’s government has renewed farm seizures, ordering white
farmers last week to vacate their properties in the southern Masvingo
province before the start of the new rains in about six weeks time
or be forcibly evicted. Only about 600 out of an estimated 4 000
large-scale producing white commercial farmers remain in Zimbabwe
after Mugabe drove the majority off the land and gave their farms
to landless blacks in a chaotic and often violent campaign he said
was meant to correct racial imbalances in land ownership. In a fresh
wave of farm evictions – which the government had officially said
were over as it was refocusing on raising production on land already
acquired from whites - Masvingo provincial governor Willard Chiwewe
wrote to white farmers ordering them to surrender their land and
equipment to the government. "Your farm has been acquired by the
government and we therefore request you to wind up your business
before the start of the rainy season," Chiwewe, who as governor
is the official representative of Mugabe in Masvingo, wrote to a
local farmer, John Sparrow.
The letter adds: "You are advised to comply with this order since
you risk being forcibly removed if you fail to comply. We also take
this opportunity to tell you that you are not allowed to move out
with any of your farming equipment." Under the government’s
tough land seizure laws, a farmer cannot challenge in court the
expropriation of his land by the government and faces jail for removing
equipment from the farm. Apart from Sparrow, at least another 10
white farmers have also received letters from Chiwewe notifying
them to vacate their properties. There were also reports that government
militias and veterans of Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war had been
sent out to pressure farmers to give up their properties.
The war veterans
and militias are accused of human rights violations including murder
against white farmers during the first phase of government farm
seizures about six years ago.
A former official of the white-representative Commercial Farmers
Union in Masvingo, Mike Nickson, described the situation as unbearable,
adding farmers had no option but "to surrender our properties
in order to save our lives." Chiwewe on Monday defended the latest
farm evictions saying the government needs the land to resettle
black villagers who occupied game parks and conservancies at the
height of farm invasions. "We are looking for farms to resettle
our people," Chiwewe said. But the governor denied knowledge
of war veterans and government militia intimidating farmers. Influential
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, as well as Vice-Presidents
Joseph Msika and Joice Mujuru have on separate occasions this year
publicly called for an end to farm evictions, saying it was time
to consolidate the government’s controversial land reforms by increasing
food production. But disturbances have continued on farms with powerful
government officials who already own more than one farm being accused
of seizing more land from whites.
The farm seizures that began in 2000 and which Mugabe says were
meant to correct an unjust land tenure system that reserved 75 percent
of the best arable land for minority whites while the majority blacks
were cramped on poor soils have been blamed for plunging Zimbabwe
into severe food shortages. The southern African country that was
once a regional breadbasket has largely survived on food handouts
from international relief agencies for the past six years and will
this year require more food aid for at least three quarters of its
12 million people.
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