OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Monday 1.10pm.
POLICE in Zimbabwe have arrested 12 villagers for failing to comply with court orders to vacate white-owned farms they have invaded. The villagers were last week served with eviction orders to leave the farms they had seized and occupied in recent weeks. The Herald reported on Monday that on the expiry of the deadline, armed anti-riot police descended on the farms forcing the villagers out, but a defiant 12 were arrested at the weekend. The 12 are due to appear in court on Monday. Hundreds of villagers, led by veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war, have in recent weeks invaded white farms and in some instances threatening violence against the farm owners. The veterans said they were taking matters into their own hands because President Robert Mugabe had failed to fulfil his promise to resettle them on white-owned land. — AFP
10.30am:
IN a move seen as compounding the country’s economic crisis, the Zimbabwean government on Friday issued orders for the immediate seizure of 841 commercial farms.
As news of the land seizures, which threaten to drive the economy into a deeper slump, filtered through, western diplomatic missions and the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, convened a meeting in Harare to consult on the issue on Saturday morning. Donors received assurances from government earlier this year that land acquisition will only proceed in consultation with stakeholders and in conformity with the law.
Observers said the timing of the land-grab, just before the ruling Zanu PF conference early next month, smacks of crude populism designed to appease the party faithful. The move, in which the farmers were told to quit their properties before compensation has been agreed, means that the government is now going back on its pledges repeated at the donor conference on land in September.
The land acquisition orders, which well-placed sources said were signed by Lands and Agriculture Minister Kumbirai Kangai, come amid heightened tension in rural communities following a series of farm invasions by ex-combatants and communal farmers. While government ministers have publicly condemned the farm invasions that have now spread throughout the country, observers were unanimous that behind them is the invisible hand of senior politburo members who are facing waning popularity after failing to deliver post-independence promises. — The Zimbabwe Independent
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