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'Leases' sold to white farmers
14/05/2006 16:09 - (SA)
Harare - Five people have been arrested in Zimbabwe for issuing fake papers to white farmers telling them they could stay on their farms, an official newspaper reported on Sunday.
The five were arrested in the wheat and maize farming district of Chegutu last week, a senior police officer told the Sunday Mail.
"We arrested five people over fake offer letters issued to some white commercial farmers in the area and investigations are under way."
One of the arrested was the secretary to the local district administrator, the paper said.
White farmers who want to stay on their farms in the wake of President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme have been told to apply for leases from the government. There are only a few hundred white farmers still on the land, out of more than 4 000 six years ago.
Farmers are no longer allowed to own land in Zimbabwe following amendments to the constitution last year that made all agricultural land state property.
According to the Sunday Mail, the scam was discovered when one white farmer told the accused he could not raise the ZIM$300m ($US 3 000) they had asked for in exchange for the documents. Instead he gave the men seven cattle.
The men then sold the cattle. They were arrested by undercover detectives while "counting their loot" from the cattle sale, said the Sunday Mail.
After the arrests in Chegutu, more white commercial farmers came forward revealing the fake offer letters they too had received, the report said. - Sapa-dpa
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