White Farmers Begin to Leave Zimbabwe for Neighboring Countries

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 14, 2002

White Farmers Begin to Leave Zimbabwe for Neighboring Countries

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A group of white commercial farmers are leaving Zimbabwe for neighboring countries after the government ordered 2,900 of the remaining 4,500 farmers to quit their land without compensation, the official Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.

Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) President Colin Cloete was quoted as saying that some farmers affected by the Land Acquisition Amendment Act have already left Zimbabwe for Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and Uganda in order to avoid confrontation.

Cloete indicated that some of the farmers who were still on their properties might be there because they had nowhere to go, adding that the act might be interpreted as arrogance when they definitely were desperate.

The government in May gave the farmers 90 days to wind up their operations on the farms and the deadline expired last Saturday with most of the affected farmers having left over the weekend without protest.

Police have confirmed that the process was going on smoothly and no cases of resistance had been reported even if a handful of the farmers might have decided to remain on the properties.

A fraction of the affected farmers has however vowed to fight the government to the bitter end and filed an application with theHigh Court challenging the constitutionality of the process.

"Some of the remaining farmers have individually appealed to the government to be allowed to continue farming and we don't knowif there will be a change of heart," he said.

"We however urge CFU members, who form 70 percent of those affected to cooperate with the government and police and avoid a confrontational stance," Cloete said.

Last week Vice President Joseph Msika said that the farmers had no right to remain on the farms once the deadline had passed, as that would slacken the pace of the land reform process.

Acting Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Ignatius Chombo also said the arrogance of the white farmers only served to expose their racist motives and intentions of derailing the land reform process.

"The government's position is very clear; as soon as one is served with Section 8 of the Land Acquisition Amendment Act, he or she must move out of the farm," he said.

"The law will deal with those who continue to defy the government directive," Chombo said.

Under the act, anyone who fails to comply with the Government order is liable to paying a fine of 20,000 Zimbabwean dollars (about 364 US dollars) or serve a two-year jail term or both.

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