Zimbabwean police have detained 53 white farmers, while holding at least 18 others out of custody, as the government extends its crackdown on whites who refuse to vacate their farms, a farming lobby said on Saturday.
Among them is Tony Smith, who was attacked early on Saturday by police and pro-government militants, Justice for Agriculture (JAG) representative Jenni Williams said.
”Very early this morning, police in the company of war veterans approached a farm in Mhangura, 100 kilometres northwest of Harare, and assaulted an employee there, compelling him to take to the home of Tony Smith, who no longer lives on his farm,” Williams said.
”They then arrived at the Chisipite residence of Mr. Smith (in Harare), and proceeded to handcuff him. Reports indicate that he was severely assaulted and has possibly sustained a broken leg and head injuries,” she said.
Smith was being held at a police station outside Harare, and JAG was trying to send him legal and medical aid, Williams said.
Police were not immediately reachable for comment, but the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Saturday that 19 farmers had been arrested.
The government on Thursday accused white farmers of stage-managing their evictions as part of a wider anti-Zimbabwe
campaign.
Supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic front (Zanu-PF) party and war veterans began occupying white farms in 2000, sparking an international outcry and prompting EU travel restrictions on senior Zanu-PF officials as part of targeted sanctions.
The land reforms come as more than six-million Zimbabweans are facing increasing food shortages, caused by drought and the dramatic decrease in commercially grown food on commercial farms, which are mainly white-owned. – Sapa-AFP