President Robert Mugabe has changed Zimbabwe's law to allow him to confiscate white-owned farms without compensation, it was announced in Harare yesterday.
Mr Mugabe used his sweeping powers to amend the Land Acquisition Act, giving his government the authority to seize white-owned farmland for redistribution to poor blacks. The alteration was published in a special government gazette, according to the presidential press secretary, Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere.
It is expected that Mr Mugabe will put the newly-amended law to use very soon by proclaiming the seizure of 841 farms. He has repeatedly stated he will take 841 farms, covering 2.1 million hectares, before the parliamentary elections on June 24th and 25th.
Mr Mugabe is hoping the seizure of the white-owned farms will help his ZANU-PF party regain the support of the country's poor rural blacks. His backers have already invaded more than 1,300 farms and are claiming them as their own. The official confiscation of 841 farms will make them government properties. It is expected Mr Mugabe will move poor blacks on to the seized farms before the parliamentary elections.
In addition to land seizures, Mr Mugabe has based his party's campaign on widespread violence and intimidation against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). At least 23 MDC members have been killed by Mugabe supporters since April 1st.
The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), representing Zimbabwe's 4,500 mainly white commercial farmers, yesterday appealed to the international community, especially Britain, to make funds available so that farmers would be compensated for properties seized.
The United Nations Development Programme has suggested that it could help raise funds for a land redistribution programme.
"The international community could make funds available for a proper resettlement programme, in which farmers would be fully compensated for their land," said Mr Tim Henwood, president of the Commercial Farmers' Union. "It would be helpful if Britain were to come to the table and participate."
The farmers' plea for international aid is widely viewed as unrealistic. Diplomats here say that no international donor would agree to fund a land redistribution programme while the Mugabe government is supporting the widespread illegal occupations and violence.