Deadline passes with one farmer evicted in Chiredzi

By Tererai Karimakwenda
05 February 2007

24 commercial farmers in Chiredzi, who were given 45-day eviction notices last month, were told to vacate their properties on Saturday. The deadline passed peacefully as the majority heeded advice from farmers’ organisations and went away for the weekend. But one unfortunate farmer was forced to pack his belongings and leave immediately.

According to the president of the Commercial Farmers Union, Trevor Gifford, the eviction in Chiredzi was supervised by a local lands official. Keeping the names involved anonymous, Gifford said the lands officer decided what the white farmer should leave behind and what he could take. It is not clear just how physical the forced eviction had been.

Gifford also revealed that the majority of farmers who received notices in Chiredzi are protected by bilateral trade agreements which the Zimbabwe authorities are ignoring. The other fact being ignored is that eviction notices can only be issued by a court of law. Chiredzi farmer Gerry Whitehead told us last week that even eviction orders signed by the minister in charge of land reform, Didymus Mutasa, are not legally binding.

The CFU estimates that only about 10% of the remaining farmers around the country are still farming. They’ve invested a lot of money planting their crops and are not close to harvesting, and so would lose it all.

Meanwhile the Zimonline news site reports that a former white commercial farmer fled his home in Chiredzi last week after a senior Zanu PF legislator Titus Maluleke hired armed soldiers to forcibly remove him from the farmhouse. The report said soldiers in full military gear stormed the property and gave Mr. Labat 48 hours to leave.