The Zimbabwean army is to be deployed on white-owned farms to “speed up” redistribution of land and to “protect” black settlers from violent farmers, says the government.
Land Minister Joseph Made told the state-owned Herald newspaper that the military is being called in because the pace of farm seizures is too slow.
Harare is portraying the use of the military as a move to prevent what it calls “lawlessness and violence against new settlers” by white farmers. But opponents see the move as a way of breaking resistance to land seizures, and a step closer to introducing a state of emergency.
In another development, legal sources said the government is considering “trumped-up” murder charges against the 21 white farmers arrested for allegedly attacking black settlers last week.
Sources close to the case claim the government is trying to elevate charges against the men from accusations of public violence, which carry a maximum penalty of a Z$500 fine (about R74).
They say there are indications that the men may be accused of killing a local war veterans leader, even though the victim was attacked when the farmers were already in custody. The anonymous war veteran was badly beaten last Friday, possibly by other whites in retaliation for the farm attacks. He apparently died on Monday.
“There is pressure from some quarters, political quarters, to use this killing to make an example of the farmers,” said the source.
The Zimbabwe High Court on Thursday postponed a decision on a bail application for the 21 farmers.
Meanwhile, four journalists detained this week were released after the Harare High Court ordered that the arrests were unconstitutional. The journalists, including editor-in-chief of the Daily News Geoff Nyarota and his deputy, Bill Saidi, were arrested after publishing a report alleging police complicity in the looting of farms.
Saidi said on Thursday he did not rule out the possibility of the government springing fresh charges in a bid to put pressure on the country’s only independent daily.