"No one from the unity government people has even mentioned us," said
Brian Bronkhorst, a dairy farmer who inherited his property from his
grandfather last year. "We’re backed up against a wall and there’s no
one to intervene to help us."
John Worsley-Warwick, who runs a hotline for targeted farmers, said
there has been a two-pronged assault on white farms. Magistrates have
charged at least 50 with illegal occupation and another 77 have
reported some form of invasion. A Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday
endorsed the eviction orders, destroying the last vestiges of hope of
legal relief for scores of landowners.
In a safehouse in Chegutu, once a prosperous market town named Hartley,
Mr Bronkhurst and group of fellow displaced farmers spend their days
discussing their losses and playing backyard cricket. The rolling
fields around the town are flush with crops but the farmers are forced
to loiter in T-shirts and shorts on a friend’s veranda.
Peter Etheredge was forced off his farm by thugs in the pay of the president of Zimbabwe’s senate, Edna Madzongwe.
He said his 6,000 ton orange harvest was contracted for sale to the
Middle East. "I turn over at least $4 million (2.74 million a year
from that business, selling to a good market that wasn’t going to be
affected by any downturn," he said. "It was a good crop too, full of
export grade oranges and she’ll sell it on the local market for
nothing. It’s a waste."
Intimidation tactics are widespread and the so-called war veterans
leader, Joseph Chinotimba, who spearheaded the most bloody land
invasions since 2000, has re-emerged. "Chinotimba has brought down
people to intimidate our labour," said Mr Etheredge. "It’s not pleasant
when people you’ve known for 16 years turn on you and claim you haven’t
paid them.
"When I tried to get rid of his men, one turned on me and said ‘we know you and where you live, we will kill you."
Hours later Mr Etheridge and his brother James fled under the cover of darkness.
Tapiwa Mashakada, the MDC’s deputy secretary general, conceded the
party had been unable to use its position to stop a "last minute" rush
by Zanu-PF to seize more land. "These are out of sync with the
reality," he said. "It will take some time but I sure we can restore
confidence."
Ousted farmers can’t believe they have lost their land just as the
country is at a turning point. Rob Taylor has had to camp with a
wardrobe and other possessions in the car park of his 12-year old
daughter’s school before threats forced them into hiding. He said:
"I’ve got nothing, I’m bust. I was 26 when this started nine years ago,
maybe I should have gone somewhere new but I can’t leave now, it’s too
close to the end.
"Agriculture is the engine of the Zimbabwean economy. The economy needs
a boost to get started but you can’t kickstart it without the engine."
President Mugabe, the champion of land seizure has denounced the
invaders as "enemies" of Zimbabwe but his words had not been backed by
action. The 85-year old made no effort to reign in the officials,
judges, policemen and family members.
With harvests looming in the southern hemisphere, farmers believe high
ranking Zanu-PF figures are grabbing lucrative assets before the new
government establishes its authority.
Mr Taylor’s former employees face a bleak future. "Since the white man
was chased away we have never had a proper meal," Margaret Ngoma said.
Foreign officials said the government is "at war" over the invasions.
The status of farms is crucial to Zimbabwe’s efforts to attract
international aid to revive its bankrupt government.
Western diplomats said the Zanu-PF Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa had
conceded for the first time that Zimbabwe would compensate dozens of
farmers who had lost property protected by bilateral investment
treaties.
But the concession would not affect the claims of thousands of British,
Commonwealth and white Zimbabwean farmers who had forfeited property
since the land invasions began.
Daily Telegraph (UK)
Post published in: News