HARARE Zimbabwes white farmers say youths hired by Zanu (PF) to invade farms have turned to crime and are behind a recent surge in armed robbery cases in Makoni after being dumped by their political masters.The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said several Zanu (PF) thugs who were employed by senior politicians in December 2009 to evict white farmers in the Makoni area of Manicaland were now stranded after their masters failed to pay. Faced with a bleak future, most of the thugs have turned to crime for survival. On the security side it has been suggested that the increase in the number of armed robberies, particularly in the Makoni district, has been caused by the politicians failing to pay their hired youth who were allegedly employed at Christmas to evict farmers from their farms, a CFU official said last week.
He said one of the thugs was recently arrested in the Midlands for armed robbery. Hordes of Zanu (PF) supporters, so-called war veterans and members of the army and police stepped up farm invasions almost immediately after the formation of the inclusive government in February 2009. Commercial farmers organisations say invaders have since raided at least 150 of the about 300 remaining white-owned commercial farms, a development that has intensified doubts over whether the unity government will withstand attempts by Zanu (PF) hardliners to sabotage it.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has ordered the arrest and prosecution of the farm invaders but his word is largely ignored with farmers reporting continuing invasions of their properties and disruption of farming activities. The CFU official said about 22 white farmers have so far been evicted by the courts but have all appealed.
These are part of about 164 farmers presently before the courts for refusing to vacate their properties which have been illegally occupied by Zanu (PF) supporters.The CFU has a pending Supreme Court case in which it is seeking an order suspending ongoing prosecutions and criminal proceedings against several of its members accused of allegedly contravening Section 3(3) of the Gazetted Land Act.
The union contends that the prosecutions are invalid and of no force and violate the constitutional rights of the farmers. The Attorney Generals Office has in recent months stepped up prosecution of white farmers it claims are refusing to vacate land acquired by the government for purposes of redistribution to land less blacks. This is despite the fact that the Southern African Development (SADC) Tribunal ruled in 2008 that the governments land reform programme is discriminatory and illegal under the SADC Treaty to which Zimbabwe is
signatory.
The International Monetary Fund and Western countries have on top of other conditions made it clear that they would not consider giving aid to the Harare government while farm invasion continue. Zimbabwe has since 2000, when land reforms began, relied on food imports and handouts from international food agencies mainly due to failure by resettled black peasants to maintain production on former white farms.
Post published in: News