[They only want certain specialist farmers back to do things even the Blacks admit they can”t do. Personally, I think Whites should leave Mugabe to rot. He is a proven liar anyway. Why trust this damned communist after everything he has done in the past. They are still chucking off 5 farmers per week, of the 400 who are left. Just going back is a dangerous exercise. I can understand the desperation of some of the Whites, but in the long term, I think they should never deal with Mugabe”s rotten lot ever again. Jan]

GOVERNMENT”S quest to get white commercial farmers back on the land could hit a brick wall after their representative body this week took a swipe at government for failing to restore law and order in the agricultural sector.

Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) president Douglas Taylor-Freeme in a statement this week said farmers had been subjected to constant harassment, abuse, threats, loss of property and equipment. He described the situation on the farms as unacceptable.

“Government has on many occasions indicated that the land reform programme has been completed but despite assurances from the relevant authorities, forced evictions, seizures and threats continue,” Taylor-Freeme said.

“This is unacceptable. CFU strongly objects to the constant lawlessness that prevails in the districts where an average of five farmers per week are subjected to forced evictions,” he said.

Taylor-Freeme said despite numerous appeals to the law enforcement authorities to investigate these incidents, they continue unabated.

“There is no respect for court orders made either by the High Court or the Administrative Court of Zimbabwe,” he said. “CFU calls upon government and law enforcement agencies to bring an end to this senseless violence, threats and intimidation, and appeals to them that the perpetrators of the latest beatings be apprehended and brought to book.”

Taylor-Freeme”s protest follows an attack on three farmers from the Middle Sabi area over the weekend.

Farm 28 owner Phil Mennie was last weekend attacked and severely beaten by six individuals.

“Mennie was left unconscious,” one farmer from the Sabi area said. “He had to be rushed to Harare for treatment.”

Farm 28 was producing 60 hectares of citrus, 120 hectares of wheat and soya beans on rotation and 40 hectares of seed maize.

Contacted for comment, Mennie said he could not give details as he was pursuing other avenues.

Farmers who spoke to the Independent said a wave of violent evictions hit the Middle Sabi region over the past two weeks, with over a dozen farmers thrown off their properties.

“Chipangai Estate is one of the farms that have fallen victim to the current eviction wave,” he said.

Taylor-Freeme said two other farmers were subjected to minor assault, and an attempted hit and run.

“It would appear that despite numerous calls made to the relevant authorities, no assistance was given and the appeals fell on deaf ears,” he said.

He warned that the food situation in the country would not improve as long as anarchy prevailed on commercial farms.

“The past agricultural season has been difficult with basic commodities in short supply,” he said. “There is need to show respect for each other”s lives and property so as to allow the agricultural sector to play its role in the economy. Government has to put an end to these senseless incidents, to stabilise the agricultural sector, and ensure that every farmer is given an equal opportunity to contribute towards enhancing national production,” he said.

An estimated 400 white commercial farmers remain on the farms out of the 4 500 who worked the land before the inception of the often-violent land reform programme in 2000.

Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507080037.htm…br>