Zimbabwean farm evictions escalate despite the GPA

Via Media Release — As the farm evictions escalate across Zimbabwe, history repeats itself. Farmers and farm workers are once again bearing the brunt of renewed Zanu PF brutality, with disastrous ramifications not only for food production but for the bankrupt economy.

Prior to the Presidential election of March 2002, the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), a government-sponsored union, was active in areas where land invasions had occurred.

Its vice president is the notorious war veteran Joseph Chinotimba, although he did not fight the war that brought about Zimbabwe’s independence.

Chinotimba is also vice president of the Zanu PF aligned National Liberation War Veterans’ Association and a member of the Zanu PF central committee.

During early 2002, the war veterans’ modus operandi was to instruct farmers to immediately lay off their farm workers, and to insist the workers vacated their houses directly they received their statutory severance packages. The war veterans would then demand a cut of the pay.

ZFTU officials were also reported to be involved in cases of extortion, estimated to be depriving farm workers of more than Z$12 million, a significant figure at the time.

Quoted in a Daily News (Zimbabwe) article of 5 March 2002, a Commercial Farmers’ Union spokesperson said this was “a blatant move to disenfranchise farmers and farm workers ahead of the presidential election.”

He confirmed that over 100 farmers countrywide and many hundreds of farm workers had been forced off commercial farms in the previous few weeks.

Although all incidents had been reported to the police, he said there had been a marked reluctance on their part to intervene.

Today’s parallels

The situation on the ground today in Zimbabwe’s decimated commercial farming sector has many parallels, with police officers either failing to uphold the rule of law or colluding with corrupt Zanu PF officials, the party elite and war veterans.

On Stockdale Farm in the Chegutu district of Mashonaland West, the Etheredge family is once again coming under increased pressure from Senator Edna Madzongwe, president of the Senate, to pack-up and leave their 6 000 ton citrus crop for her to reap.

Her latest strategy has been to bring in the ZFTU, an avowed Zanu PF ally with no affiliates among any of the major unions.

In the presence of Chegutu police on 16 March, ZFTU officials demanded that the Etheredges pay off their workers or else face the looting of their homes.

The Etheredges are fully protected by the SADC Tribunal ruling of 28 November 2008 and have no intention of making their workers redundant, especially with unemployment estimated at over 94 percent.

Mr Peter Etheredge has lodged an urgent application in the High Court of Zimbabwe to have the SADC Tribunal ruling registered. Earlier attempts to do this after the ruling came into force have to date failed to result in a hearing in the High Court.

The same ZFTU officials then went on to Twyford farm in Chegutu where Senator Jamaya has taken the law into his own hands and illegally taken over the farm. The officials threatened to adopt the same looting procedure.

On Friday 13 March, Rob Taylor of Downs Farm managed to retrieve the remainder of his possessions. The balance had been looted from his house after the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) manager for Chegutu, Mr Tendai Chasauka, took the law into his own hands and commandeered the farm.

Mr Taylor managed to find a place to camp in the Bryden School grounds to be close to his daughter who is a border there. He set up a camp with tents and tarpaulins along with 10 workers who were also evicted.

Shortly before midnight, two policemen arrived from the Chegutu police station and asked what he and the workers were doing there. He explained the situation and they were sympathetic. They assured him that he and his workers would not be troubled.

The next day at around 10h00, Assistant Inspector Bupera, also from Chegutu, arrived with another middle rank officer and questioned them. They seemed satisfied with the explanation and left.

Three hours later, two senior policemen, the most senior officers in the district, arrived from the neighbouring town of Kadoma. They told Mr Taylor and his workers they had only a few minutes to pack up their possessions and leave.

Although Mr Taylor explained they were on private school property and had permission to be there, the officers insisted they vacate the premises without further discussion.

Shortly afterwards, Assistant Inspector Bupera returned with the officer-in-charge of Chegutu police, Chief Inspector Manika.

They supported the instructions of the Kadoma officers and told Mr Taylor and his workers to leave immediately. They said they would not be responsible for “other forces” that might arrive to take action against them should they refuse to leave.

Mr Taylor then phoned his lawyer, David Drury, who reassured him he was not breaking any laws and that the police eviction and threats were illegal. He asked to speak to the police but they refused.

Anxious to resolve the standoff, Mr Taylor stressed that he and his workers had nowhere to go and that their eviction from the farm by Mr Chasauka, who holds the offer letter, was illegal.

He explained that Downs Farm is protected by the SADC tribunal and that there is also a High Court interdict preventing Mr Chasauka from entering the farm.

For the past nine weeks, Mr Taylor has repeatedly reported to the police that the situation has become dire on the farm with his dairy cattle dying from tick borne diseases and suffering from mastitis as a result of not being milked.

Mastitis is an infection of the udder in cattle and sheep. It is often a painful condition and can even cause death. Udders become red and swollen and the animals lose condition rapidly.

Despite the cruelty and the practical fact that milk is in short supply – the country is having to import large quantities from South Africa – the police have refused to escort Mr Taylor back onto the farm so that he can at least treat and dip his cattle.

Mr Taylor and his workers are now in the invidious position of being homeless and without an income. They are currently camping in the school’s car park.

“Throughout the Chegutu district it is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers to continue operating,” reported Ben Freeth of Mount Carmel farm.

“Production is grinding to a halt on many farms and the continued harassment is overtly supported by the police, lands officers and the Central Intelligence Organisation,” said Mr Freeth.

Prior to the violent land invasions of 2000, Zimbabwe had 4 247 commercial farms according to the Central Statistical Office in 1997.

Zimbabwe’s vibrant commercial farming sector used to employ over 350 000 workers and offered shelter to more than 1,5 million people, including the workers’ children, elderly parents and other relatives.

By the end of March 2002, only 1 183 former farm workers had been resettled while 140 000 had lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Farm schools and clinics were also shut down as the Zanu PF elite who took over the farms had no interest in maintaining these services and the so-called “new farmers” had no capital.

A parliamentary report of 2007 noted that Zimbabwe had accrued a trade deficit of US$5 billion over the previous five years due to the destabilisation of agriculture.

Farm invasions are illegal in terms of Zimbabwean law. The targeting of white farmers for eviction by the state or anyone else is a violation of last year’s ruling by the SADC Tribunal. The Tribunal declared Mr Mugabe’s farm redistribution programme discriminatory and illegal under the SADC Treaty to which Zimbabwe is a signatory.

With respect to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) of 15 September 2009, Mr Mugabe made a commitment to ensure security of tenure to all landholders and to work with his Movement for Democratic Change partners in the GPA for the restoration of full productivity on all agricultural land.

This entry was posted by Sokwanele on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 12:00 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.