[So the whites won’t get any farms. At best, they’ll be able to leave destroyed farms. Its too bad there are white farmers who are so desperate. But some probably have not had any income for years now. So its no doubt due to desperation.

Private land ownership was of course a KEY ISSUE in the Lancaster House talks which led to Zimbabwe. But this is now in the rubbish bin hey? You see… negotiating with these blacks is a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME! We whites must do our own thing. Jan]

Following commitments made by the State and the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) in April this year to increase cooperation in a bid to boost agricultural production, over 1 000 white commercial farmers have applied for leases to resume operations in the country. The president of the CFU, Doug-Taylor Freeme yesterday told this paper that he was optimistic that the number of members applying for land would grow and the government™s response would be positive. According to him, over a thousand CFU members had applied for leases and the process was still on-going in line with procedures to be followed by any prospective farmers in Zimbabwe. “We understand that provincial lists have been drawn up but the final outcome is still pending. As farmers we remain committed to playing our part in the turn-around of the economy through the agricultural sector and we will always support such efforts. “At present we are communicating with various government sectors and offering our assistance in policy formulation with the view to reviving agriculture in Zimbabwe.

Six months ago, a CFU delegation led by Taylor-Freeme met with national security, lands, land reform and resettlement minister Didymus Mutasa and agriculture minister Joseph Made to offer the services of white commercial farmers in an effort to increase output. Incidentally, a Member of Parliament close to the developments said it was now simply a matter of time before a significant number of white farmers resumed production on farms they will be allocated by the national security, lands, land reform and resettlement ministry. The source said the white farmers, like all other farmers in the country, would have to apply for leases though it was likely that they would face few hurdles as a number of them met the criteria laid out by the government. “One of the requirements for qualification for a 99-year lease is a minimum of three years production on the land and a lot of these white farmers meet that benchmark. Over and above that, the applicants generally meet productivity requirements and we can soon expect to see greater cooperation between the State and the CFU,” the Parliamentarian said.

The source added: “The Land Reform Programme is non-racial regardless of what some people may say and this ongoing process is proof of that. It is unfortunate that stakeholders became polarised early in the programme but we are working towards overcoming that. President Mugabe has also in the past expressed the same sentiment, pointing out that Land Reform was not structured to “fix” any particular group of people but simply to complete the process of total liberation from colonial rule. “Over the years, there has been a misconception that the Land Reform Programme was designed to chase whites out of Zimbabwe and yet all the State wanted was a more equitable distribution of farmland in the country. “All stakeholders want to see Zimbabwe™s agricultural sector being revived and one of the ways of doing that is by increasing cooperation.” However, the source said this did not mean evictions of both indigenous and white farmers illegally settled on the land would stop. “The law will not be suspended just for the sake of harmony and cooperation with a relatively small group of stakeholders. Evictions will run concurrently with the awarding of leases to deserving applicants,” he said.

Lands minister Mutasa was unavailable for comment yesterday while Agriculture minister Joseph Made™s mobile went unanswered. Contacted for comment, secretary for agriculture, Simon Pazvakavambwa, said he was not in a position to speak on the issue. However, it appears as if the offer of technical expertise made by the CFU has not been formalised at an institutional level with a government official saying that at present the State was not directly co-opting the technical expertise of white commercial farmers. Secretary for information and Presidential spokesman George Charamba said: “At an institutional level not much has happened though individually there™s been increased dialogue between new farmers and the white farming community. “We have seen a number of goodwill gestures from white farmers who are assisting individual new farmers.” Charamba said white farmers had indicated that they wanted security of tenure and the State had instructed them to apply for the 99-year leases. “If they apply they stand a good chance of getting the leases on the basis of the time they spent on the land and their individual productivity statistics.”

When the ministers of lands and agriculture met the CFU delegation half a year ago, Taylor-Freeme was quoted saying: “We are saying we are prepared to work with the government in anything that has got to do with reviving the economy through agriculture. We are a generation of white farmers who want to see our economy back on track through agriculture.” To this, Mutasa responded: “People™s attitudes change. The CFU of today is different from that of 2000. There is no doubt that they (white commercial farmers) have greater expertise and experience that should be imparted to newly resettled farmers. It is in the national interest that we want to harness that experience to enhance agricultural productivity.” Since then, the CFU has issued a number of statements urging its members to take advantage of the government™s gesture while also calling for greater cooperation between all stakeholders. Taylor-Freeme is on record saying: “The CFU consistently supports land reform and in that vein, there is need for reconciliation with the government. We are not benefiting from this polarisation of ideas neither is the government. We now say to the government, get out of that corner and let us meet and embrace each other to map the future.” He also said the Central Bank had for sometime now been consulting with the CFU on major agricultural concerns.

A Land (Consequential Provisions) Bill, that seeks to make it an offence to occupy or continue occupying gazetted land without lawful authority, has already passed through two readings at House of Assembly and Senate stages. The Bill seeks to validate offer letters issued by the lands ministry in addition to blocking fresh farm occupations and providing compensation for improvements made on acquired land in line with the Land Acquisition Act. From the time the Fast Track Land Reform Programme commenced, a total of 231 251 families have been resettled under the A1 (communal and small-scale) and A2 (large-scale) models on 10 662 162 hectares of land countrywide. Minister Mutasa recently indicated that the Agricultural Land Resettlement Board had inspected some 96 A2 farms and those who qualified would be issued with the leases soon. Efforts to determine the number of A2 farms inspected by the Agricultural Land Resettlement Board to date were fruitless at the time of going to press, though unconfirmed reports have it that government taskforces are now assessing dairy farms in the Mashonaland provinces. Prior to this, around 4 500 white farmers dominated the commercial farming sector due to decades of colonial policies that frustrated the ambitions of would-be black commercial farmers.

From The Sunday Mirror, 8 October
By Mabasa Sasa, Political Editor
Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com