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White
Farmers Evicted 25th
July 2002 NEARLY 650
white farmers have already been evicted from their farms by new settlers, some
of whom are senior government officials, ahead of the August 10 deadline set by
the government for them to quit their properties or face prosecution, Commercial
Farmers' Union (CFU) president Collin Cloete said yesterday. Most of
the evictions have taken place in farms around the three Mashonaland provinces,
he told the Financial Gazette. "About
650 farmers have been pushed off their land by government officials and
potential A2 settlers," Cloete said. Under the
government's controversial land reforms, A2 model farmers refers to the new
black landowners with farming skills and financial resources who are taking over
commercial agriculture from the white farmers. But many
of those who have benefited under the A2 scheme are close associates of
President Robert Mugabe and supporters of his ruling ZANU PF party. Calling
the future of largely white-led commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe bleak, Cloete
said the government's land reform drive now looked more like it was intended to
purge the white farmer. "The
future of farming is bleak. It looks like the intention is to get all the land
and get rid of white farmers," the CFU chief said. He said
about 70 percent of the estimated 4 500 white commercial farmers had been issued
with government orders to stop farming by August 10, while the government had
been issuing Section 8 orders to the remaining farmers. The latter
order bars farmers from carrying out any farming for 45 days after which they
must leave their properties. The often
violent and chaotic land reforms are largely blamed for disrupting farming last
season and causing a 60 percent plunge in food production, triggering the
current food crisis which threatens half of Zimbabwe's population or six million
people. The United
States, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand and Switzerland have imposed
sanctions on Mugabe and 52 of his top officials over their land reform policies
and other governance issues. Staff Reporter – Financial Gazette |