AFP, Harare | Friday
FOUR white farmers have been arrested on charges of “inciting violence” for allegedly convincing their black labourers to evict squatters from several farms south of Harare, the government daily reported.
“The police will not tolerate any unlawful actions or disruptions of public order, such as new farm occupations,” The Herald quoted Interior Minister John Nkomo as saying.
“The police will arrest all those who incite violence or carry out illegal expulsions,” the minister said.
Squatters, led by militant veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, have invaded more than 1 600 white-owned farms since February amid a controversial government programme to seize white land for resettlement by landless black peasants.
The land occupation campaign, which has at times been violent, has won open support from President Robert Mugabe.
In the regions of Beatrice and Featherstone, south of the capital, white farmers had recently convinced their farm hands to throw squatters off the land and burn their makeshift homes, The Herald said.
The paper said war veterans from the southern Chivu region came to the squatters’ rescue. Gunfire was exchanged until police arrrived on the scene.
Zimbabwe’s government has vowed to intensify the expulsions of squatters from white-owned farms, but this only concerns squatters who have occupied farms since the end of July, accounting for a small number of land occupations.
Supporters say squatters invaded farms to protest the slow pace of land reform in Zimbabwe, but critics claim the invasions were a government-sponsored campaign of terror to ensure the ruling party’s victory in legislative elections held in June.
Zimbabwe’s government has listed more than 2 300 white-owned farms for compulsory acquisition and redistribution, as part of plans to expropriate some five million hectares (13.35 million acres) of land, mainly belonging to some 4 500 commercial farmers.
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