/ 28 October 2000

FARMERS DEMOLISH FARMS IN ZIMBABWE

Some Zimbabwean whites whose farms have been earmarked for compulsory acquisition are demolishing property before their departure, a senior government official has said. “Some farmers are now vandalising property on their farms to make life difficult for whoever will be settled on these properties,” a provincial governor, David Karimanzira, told the state-run daily The Herald. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), however, has denied vandalising their farms prior to resettlement. The CFU, said in a statement that the current land acquisition procedure related only to fixed assets and “as such …the owner of a farm that has been compulsorily acquired can, by law, remove moveable assets from the farm. Karimanzira, the governor for Mashonaland East province, said the farmers’ actions showed that some of them were resisting the land reforms. “When one sector starts vandalising property, it sends wrong signals to us,” said Karimanzira. President Robert Mugabe this week threatened to revoke the government policy of reconciliation adopted in 1980 because whites were being retrogressive especially on the land issue. – AFP