The union said this week the families, evicted along with their employers from farms across the country, are now seeking assistance from the International Organisation for Migration, and many are yet to find accommodation. It comes at a time when 94% of the country's population is unemployed, while more than 7 million people are in critical need of food aid.
The renewed offensive against the country's remaining white farmers started just days before Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister in a unity government that is daily heading towards failure. At least 80 farms have so far been seized and about 50 are under siege by lawless thugs, with the owners facing possible violent eviction. At the same time more than 100 farmers are also facing prosecution while 140 are contesting eviction orders in the country's courts.
However the courts are unlikely to offer the farmers fair trial, after the country's magistrates were last month instructed by the Attorney General to ignore any orders protecting farmers' rights to their land, in an effort to fast track prosecution against them. Even the High Court judge who this week nullified a SADC Tribunal ruling protecting white owned farms, has been implicated in the offensive against the farmers, after it emerged she was awarded land snatched from a farmer in 2005.
The same High Court judgment also dismissed an order being sought by farmer Peter Etheredge, against the President of the Senate Edna Madzongwe. Madzongwe has been harassing Etheredge since 2007 in an effort to force him off his Stockdale citrus farm, which is one of the few productive farms left in a country crippled by food shortages. Last year, the farm was looted over a period of several weeks and an estimated US$600 000 worth of goods was destroyed or stolen. Etheredge's brother and wife were also severely beaten at the time of the looting, while they were trying to reclaim their possessions that had been dumped at the roadside.
The family have since been fighting off a string of invaders living on the property and Etheredge, who was supposed to be protected by the SADC Tribunal ruling, has been arrested on numerous occasions. The offensive against the farm owners has since been renewed, shortly after Justice Anne-Mary Gowora delivered her judgment nullifying the SADC Tribunal's ruling.
On Wednesday Madzongwe, accompanied by a 20 strong group of people, including four policemen, arrived on the farm brandishing a copy of the state owned Herald newspaper, and ordered Etheredge to cease operations on the farm. Madzongwe's spokespeople apparently told Etheredge the Herald's report on the High Court ruling gave them the authority to carry out the order.
Etheredge on Friday meanwhile raised concerns about corruption within the judiciary, explaining that four out of the country's five Supreme Court judges have been beneficiaries of Mugabe's land grab. This includes Judge Paddington Garwe who has been instrumental in ensuring MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett remains behind bars.
Meanwhile, three landowners arrested early this year on banditry charges were finally released on Thursday, two months since their wrongful incarceration. The trio, who own adjoining land in Ruwa, outside Harare, were arrested after a military style raid on their properties – where they conduct adventure and Boy Scout training.
The arrests were instigated by the former chief security officer for the Reserve Bank, Joshua Banda, who promptly took up residence on one of the pieces of land after the rightful owner was behind bars. Banda used the evidence of Boy Scout training as an excuse to level banditry charges against the trio, in what their defence lawyer argued was a case of a person who took advantage of the political situation and proceeded to manipulate it to his advantage in a savage and ruthless manner.
swradio