Zimbabwe's white farmers hit back yesterday at a government minister who said they would be killed by angry peasants if their land was not seized by the government for redistribution. The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), which represents most of the country's 4,000 white farmers, condemned the weekend remark by the Information Minister, Mr Chen Chimutengwende, as "inflammatory and irresponsible". Mr Chimutengwende also accused white businessmen of supporting the farmers in a plot to bring down the government by raising prices.
The minister accused whites of being bitter over the government's plan to seize some 1,500 farms for redistribution to blacks.
The CFU president, Mr Nick Swanepoel, rejected the allegation that whites were holding the government to ransom over its farms plan.
"On the contrary, the CFU and members of the private sector are working with government and donors in seeking a solution to the problem of land distribution under the banner of Team Zimbabwe," he said.
Twenty-nine Zimbabweans trying to cross the flooded Limpopo River border to South Africa drowned on Sunday, bringing total drownings over the weekend to 36, state radio reported yesterday. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation quoted police as saying the 29 were led into the river by a faith healer. Hundreds of young Zimbabwean "border jumpers" risk their lives every year crossing the crocodile-infested river in search of jobs in wealthier South Africa.