Showdown looming as government plans to evict 4 000 black farmers

By Tererai Karimakwenda
02 June 2006

The Zimonline news site reports that the Zimbabwe government Thursday said it will evict about 4 000 black farmers who are illegally occupying commercial farms and conservancies in Masvingo province south. According to the report a Masvingo provincial administrator said all those who occupied farms not earmarked for seizure under the land-reform programme, as well as farms protected by government-to-government agreements will be evicted. Previous efforts to evict hundreds of settlers still occupying national parks and conservancies in Masvingo have failed. And it seems a showdown is looming if the government proceeds with fresh evictions.

John Worsley Worswick from Justice For Agriculture (JAG) which represents evicted commercial white farmers, said they had second-hand information of a possible government policy reversal on land. He said:
“This would cover citrus, coffee and timber estates and it could extend into conservancies and wildlife areas as well and that it is basically export and foreign currency procurement driven.” But Worswick added that this could also be government propaganda. He said: “Obviously here in Zimbabwe we are very aware of the propaganda that is driven by the regime. There’s always been this propaganda to give a face of respectability to the so-called land reform programme so we are very sceptical and will believe it when we see it happen.”

To add to the confusion surrounding agriculture, other government officials have denied the recent reports that black farmers who have failed to produce will be evicted and the farms allocated to white commercial farmers. The denials have been viewed as a reluctance to admit that the land reform programme had failed. If black farmers were evicted the Mugabe regime would clash with the war veterans and party supporters who benefited from the chaotic land invasions that are being blamed for destroying agriculture in the country.

The Zimonline report quoted a war veteran who said he is not going to leave without a fight because it was Mugabe himself who encouraged them to occupy the farms. He said: “It is with great shock that we are hearing about these evictions. We are prepared to fight anyone over the evictions." Another farm invader said he believes the government is sparing ministers who also invaded farms and targeting less influential individuals.

In other related news, the man who shot and killed a white farmer four years ago has been sentenced to death by the Zimbabwe High Court. 31 year old Munetsi Kadzinga was given the death sentence by high court Judge Bharat Patel on Tuesday after he was convicted of murdering farmer Charles Anderson in 2002. The South African Mail and Guardian newspaper reports that Kadzinga claimed in court that he had been told to carry out attacks on white farmers by senior government officials, including Minister John Nkomo, who ran the Home Affairs ministry at the time. But the judge dismissed the claims and said there were no extenuating circumstances in the case.