After a decade of violence and vandalism against their dairy farm in
southern Zimbabwe, there was fresh hope. Within hours, that had been
extinguished and Mr and Mrs Joubert were forced into hiding.
On the evening of last week’s pledge by Tendai Biti, the Finance
Minister in Zimbabwe’s coalition Government, to arrest any further
farm invasions the locks on their farm gate were smashed, the door to
Mrs Joubert’s elderly father’s home was broken down and its contents
taken out and dumped.
The police, who had taken part in the eviction, left a message for Mr
and Mrs Joubert, who was away on business, with their farm workers –
they were to be arrested for staying on the land in defiance of
Lovemore Matuke, the local chairman of President Mugabe’s Zanu (PF)
party.
In the days that followed Mr Matuke took over the Joubert’s own
homestead and threw out their goods. Mr Matuke has previously seized
three other farms, none of which now produces anything. The couple are
now in hiding in the town of Masvingo. They have with them a suitcase
of clothing, their car, and a parrot rescued from their farm, Mijn Rust.
Their only hope is that ministers such as Mr Biti can restore their
rights. Under radical land reform legislation introduced by Mr Mugabe,
about 4,000 white farmers have lost their farms, and only 100 remain.
Production in what was once a regional breadbasket has plummeted,
leaving Zimbabwe on the verge of famine.
Most potential foreign donors, whose cash is vital to restoring the
country’s devastated economy, want to see the farm seizures cease
before committing towards the $5 billion (3 billion) Mr Biti believes
is needed to restore basic government functions.
However, in the 38 days since the new power-sharing Government
involving the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was formed, the
seizures have escalated.
Yesterday Tom Venter, a farmer, was found guilty in the central city of
Gweru of failing to get off his farm and was ordered to remove all his
goods, while in Chegutu, 50 miles west of Harare, Simon Keevil received
a summons for the same offence.
On Monday in the Chiredzi district in the southeast, two farmers were
arrested, and on two other farms black managers were arrested because
their employers were not there. At the weekend in Chegutu, squatters
looted the home of Brian Bronkhorst, who is barred from entering his
property.
Since the Government abolished freehold title on farms in 2007, rural
land tenure rests on an offer letter issued by the Ministry of Lands.
Farm union officials say that Didymus Mutasa, the department’s head,
signs batches of the documents without checking to see who gets them.
There is a constant scramble for them among army and police, civil
servants, judges and friends and relatives of Mr Mugabe’s inner circle.
In the eyes of the police the presentation of the offer letter to a
white farmer is enough to have him thrown him off. It is not clear if
Mr Matuke, the Jouberts’ persecutor, has an offer letter. The Jouberts
have endured a sustained period of harassment since their farm was
first invaded in June last year. The fodder for their 120 pedigree cows
was destroyed and the cattle starved to death, putting the second-last
milk producer in the province of Masvingo out of business. Miles of
fencing have been stolen, workers have been assaulted and last week a
court ruled that the staff were illegally on the farm.
The farmers’ rights leader Ben Freeth, who has still not recovered from
a savage assault by farm invaders in June last year, said: More and
more farmers are getting summonses.