Financial Gazette (Harare)
6 February 2003
Harare — THE government has withdrawn charges against 41 white farmers hauled before the courts last year when they failed to vacate their properties to make way for blacks resettled under a controversial land reform programme, it was learnt this week.
Colin Cloete, the president of the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), which represents most of Zimbabwe's white farmers, said by the end of last week, charges had been withdrawn against at least 41 farmers.
"So far six farmers in Beitbridge, 14 in Nyamandlovu, two in Mutare and 14 in Marondera had their cases withdrawn," said Cloete, whose case, together with that of four Chegutu farmers, has also been dismissed.
The farmers were initially charged with contravening the Land Acquisition Act, under which their properties were earmarked for the resettlement of peasant and aspiring black commercial farmers in the government's agrarian reforms.
White farmers were given 90 days in which to cease production and vacate their properties, and several of those failing to do so were arrested and brought before the courts.
Agriculture experts say the seizure of commercial farms has combined with drought to cut food production by at least 60 percent and has also worsened Zimbabwe's economic crisis.
The dismissal of the charges follows the renewal of talks between the government and the CFU, during which the Ministry of Agriculture is said to have promised white farmers that those wishing to continue farming would be allocated land.
Cloete told the Financial Gazette: "Let's just hope the government is going to be genuine or maybe it has had a change of heart. If we are given the chance we would like to go back (to the land).
"The economy is struggling and the food security is threatened. We need to commit ourselves and save our country from these doldrums."
He said even if farmers returned to their land, it was too late for them to have any impact on agricultural output for the 2002-2003 season, during which production is expected to fall by more than 50 percent.
"Personally, I have got settlers on the farm and I cannot do any farming. It is too late to plant, maybe with the exception of the winter crop - that is burley and wheat," Cloete said.
Analysts have also said it is unlikely that commercial farmers will return to the land unless the government provides them with concrete assurances that their properties will not be seized from them again.
"The letters of charges withdrawal do not constitute giving us the farms," the CFU president said.
"Next week they might give us a letter telling us to go back to court and get off the farms. It's a hide-and-seek game and we do not know who will win," he added.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made declined to comment on the matter this week. However, in a letter to the Public Prosecutor at the end of last month, the civil division of the Attorney-General's Office made it clear that charges against white farmers were being withdrawn because of ongoing negotiations with the government.
Part of the letter reads: "We refer to the above matter wherein we have been instructed by our client, the Minister of Lands, to instruct you to withdraw criminal charges against the above accused.
"The accused are currently engaged in dialogue with the government and it is not in the direct interest of our client to pursue the criminal charges at this stage."
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