A SECRET document presented to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s cabinet last month by the Zanu-PF-held land ministry recommends the government should take control of all the remaining white-owned farms in the country.
The document, which has been seen by The Irish Times, was presented to cabinet on August 27th for approval and has coincided with a surge in land invasions against many of the country’s remaining 400 or so white farmers.
Reports have been surfacing daily that many of the 78 farmers afforded the protection of the Southern African Development Community by the body’s tribunal late last year have been harassed, assaulted and subjected to arson attacks over the past few weeks by thugs loyal to Mr Mugabe’s allies.
Hundreds of other white farmers are being dragged before the courts so the authorities can forcibly remove them from their land legally.
The powersharing deal between Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and the former Movement for Democratic Change opposition parties signed last February has the stated aims of stabilising Zimbabwe’s crippled economy and ensuring “security of tenure for all landholders . . . irrespective of race”.
However, the document signed by minister of lands and rural settlements Herbert Murerwa appears to contradict the agreed terms that led to the formation of the transitional government.
As well as stating the government should continue to acquire white-owned farms, the document recommends that “no foreigner should be allowed to own rural agricultural land in Zimbabwe” and that farm land should be excluded from future interstate investment protection agreements.
It also advises that the prosecution of “farmers resisting to move off the acquired land should be expedited”, and that “deserving Zimbabweans” should continue to be offered confiscated land by government through the issue of offer letters.
Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers’ Union president, Deon Theron, said the union was concerned about the implications of the document as it believed that, aside from dispossessing its members, it was likely to destabilise the government. “It’s absolutely ludicrous that the document recommends no foreigner should be allowed to own rural land in Zimbabwe,” said Mr Theron. “We believe that recommendations are now being implemented, as there has been a huge escalation of violence against our members.
“Last Saturday in the Herald [state-controlled newspaper], Mr Mugabe urged the youth to take the land. It’s not for the youth to do that. It seems that we were mistaken to think the unity government would protect us,” Mr Theron said, adding that he had just left court with his 79-year-old mother whose farm is in the process of being expropriated.
In his speech to Zanu-PF youth, Mr Mugabe reportedly urged farmers to embrace land reform, and went on to state: “Once people have offer letters and they are valid, that’s it. The farm is not yours any more.
“Please don’t resist. I am saying please, please, but that will stop. If we hear about any resistance, we will stop pleading. I will just send the police to drive them away.”
Also included in the document was a breakdown of the foreigners affected by Mr Mugabe’s land reform programme since it began taking white-owned farms in 2000.
According to their statistics, citizens from 14 countries have had their farms taken.
The dispossessed include 19 farms owned by South Africans, 61 owned by Mauritians, 43 by Germans, 41 by Dutch nationals, 28 by Swiss citizens, 26 by Italians, and five by Americans.
The statistics also confirm that 6,214 farms, totalling 10.8 million hectares, have been seized by the state over the past nine years – 70 per cent of the country’s rural farmland – with most going to Mr Mugabe’s cronies.