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Zim arrests 3 white farmers
12/10/2007 21:02 - (SA)
Harare - Three more white farmers have been arrested in Zimbabwe for defying a government order to leave their farms, reports said Friday.
The three, from the eastern farming districts of Rusape and Nyazura, have already appeared in court and have been released on bail, the state-controlled Manica Post newspaper reported.
Kenyon Ziehl, Peter Landos and Lodewyk Van Rensburg were arrested last week for failing to vacate their farms by September 30, the paper said.
Having been duly notified of the expiry of that date, they failed to vacate the farms. They had no right to continue occupying the farms, state prosecutor Tafara Chawatama told the Rusape Magistrate's Court.
More than a dozen white farmers have been arrested since the expiry of the September deadline in what many believe is a last push by the authorities to get white farmers off the land.
Only around 400 white farmers are believed to still be on their farms out of more than 4 000 seven years ago, when the government began seizing white-owned farms for redistribution to new black farmers.
Independent reports suggest that as many as 200 of those remaining white farmers now face eviction.
On Thursday a magistrate in the central town of Chegutu ordered that 11 white farmers from surrounding farming districts would have to stand trial for defying the eviction orders.
If convicted of breaching Zimbabwe's land laws the farmers could face two-year jail terms or hefty fines.
The Chegutu farmers had wanted their case referred to the Supreme Court to give them the chance to challenge the land laws that they say are violating their constitutional rights. - Sapa-dpa
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