Zim farmers abandon land
2001-11-13 14:19
Harare, Zimbabwe - Some white Zimbabwean farmers, ordered to immediately stop working their land or face prison, began dismantling equipment and infrastructure on Tuesday.
As part of its "fast track" land reform plan, the government on Monday ordered 1 000 white commercial farmers who had received notification their land was to be seized to stop cultivating their land and prepare to vacate their homes.
The land is to be divided up and re-distributed to landless
blacks.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said a further 3 500 white farmers who had received preliminary warnings their land would be seized would soon receive seizure notices.
Rather than face a possible two-year jail term, some farmers
began preparing to leave their farms on Tuesday.
"We are removing our equipment, taking out the centre irrigation
pivots, taking everything off each farm," said Clive Nicolle, a
farmer in the Chinhoyi area, 160km northeast of Harare. "We are actually now unbundling."
The government has targeted a total of 5 000 white-owned
commercial farms, about 95% of all farms owned by whites,
for seizure and re-distribution to landless blacks.
Thousands of ruling party militants are occupying 1 700 white farms, often disrupting planting and harvesting and forcing
productive fields to lie fallow, white farmers say.
Economists predict the land reform program will further damage
Zimbabwe's already crashing agriculture-based economy.
John Robertson, a private economic analyst, called the seizures
"suicidal," and said hurting the agricultural industry was "the act of madmen". - Sapa/DPA
- SAPA