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Zimbabwe — Government to ‘take evicted farmers’ assets’

WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.

Original Post Date: 2002-05-09 Time: 23:25:08  Posted By: Jan

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&ar…br>
The Zimbabwe government has recalled parliament to pass a law that will, among other things, prevent any farmer who is unlawfully evicted from his farm from removing his machinery and equipment from such land.

The Land Acquisition Amendment Act will also enable the government to legally bypass lengthy court challenges to land seizures and evict farmers within 90 days after they are formally served with notices to have their land acquired for resettlement.

Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) spokesperson Jenni Williams said the amendment would effectively give the government powers to seize movable assets owned by farmers, a move that she described as being in violation of the constitution of Zimbabwe.

Already, she said, senior government officials and war veterans had seized large quantities of equipment owned by farmers on their properties.

Some farmers had even been prevented from removing their household furniture and personal effects from their land.

“When the war veterans were evicting farmers, some were saying the government would bring a new law to enable them to seize movable assets. It is not surprising that this law has now been brought into parliament,” said Williams.

The amendment act was due to be presented to parliament for debate later on Tuesday.

Parliament was recalled to pass the new legislation two weeks before it was to officially resume sitting.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told state media that it was essential to pass the Amendment act to expedite the land resettlement process.

Williams said at least 500 farmers had been illegally evicted from their farms since the war veterans started their illegal land invasions two years ago.

Half of them had been evicted since the March 9-11 presidential election, she said.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe government has failed to take up about 700 farms voluntarily offered by white farmers because it does not have money to pay for the properties.

Jerry Grant, the CFU deputy director for commodities, told the local business and financial weekly, the Financial Gazette, that farmers had voluntarily offered for sale the farms to the government to avoid court challenges and to promote a transparent land reform exercise.

“There has not been a single response to the offers. They don’t have the capability to pay…” said Grant.

Zimbabwe faces suspension from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over its failure to pay loan arrears amounting to about US$120-million.

Reports said Zimbabwe, which is mired in an acute foreign currency crisis, had proposed to liquidate the areas in quarterly instalments but it has repeatedly failed to fulfil similar proposals to pay its debts to the Bretton Woods Institute in the past

Meanwhile, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights has requested to visit Zimbabwe to probe human rights abuses in the country.

The Zimbabwe government has agreed, but the dates of the visit are yet to be set. – Independent Foreign Service.