The fate of hundreds of white farmers in Zimbabwe defying government orders to give up their land remained unclear after Mugabe’s anxiously awaited Hero’s Day speech yesterday.
Against the backdrop of Heroes Acre, a burial shrine of nationalist politicians and guerrilla leaders, Mugabe said he would not tolerate opposition to his plans to redistribute white-owned farms to blacks.
He said black commercial farmers were expected to take up allocated land by the end of August.
”That deadline stands. Everyone interested in farming should be on the land by the time the rains come (later in the year),” Mugabe said.
But white farmers cooperating with the government would not be left completely landless.
”All genuine and well meaning white farmers who wish to pursue a farming career as loyal citizens of this country will have land to do so,” Mugabe said.
Farmers prevented from working their fields during land seizures over the past two years were puzzled by Mugabe’s remarks, said David Hasluck, director of the Commercial Farmers Union, representing 4 000 white farmers.
”That loyal Zimbabweans can farm is entirely new to us. The majority of my members have been trying to farm as loyal Zimbabweans but they have been stopped from doing so,” he said.
Mugabe also said whites would not be allowed to stay on large properties, own more than one farm or cling to ties with Britain, the former colonial power.
Justice for Agriculture, a new group urging farmers to challenge farm evictions in court, said at least 1,000 farmers affected by eviction orders owned only one property of generally limited size.
The group took no solace from Mugabe’s speech.
”We would be much happier if words were met with action on the ground,” said Jenni Williams, representative for the group. ”Words don’t feed people. Farmers do.”
The standoff between government and the farmers came as half Zimbabwe’s 12,5-million people face a severe hunger crisis, according to the World Food Program. The WFP blames the crisis on drought combined with the agricultural chaos caused by the seizures.
A deadline for nearly 3 000 white farmers to leave their land expired last week, but the government has taken no action against them and Mugabe stopped short of calling for immediate action. But those who ”want another war should think again when they still have time to do so,” he said.
Despite international criticism, the government will never relent on its land program, he said. ”No enemy is too big or too powerful to be fought and vanquished for this land. Our people are the principle owners of this land. We will not budge,” he said.
Some farmers said Mugabe was not as combative as expected but uncertainty remained over the farmers’ plight.
”There is some relief that it seems there won’t be a mass avalanche of evictions,” said Ben Zietsman, a farmers union official in the western Matabeleland province.
Some landowners have reported recent overtures by state officials suggesting they might retain small portions of land if they relinquished the rest.
Hasluck said white farmers that were left with portions that were too small would not be viable and might have to leave anyway.
”Farming is all about what is manageable and sustainable,” he said.
The government has targeted 95% of white-owned farms for seizure in its often violent land reform program.
The government says its program was a final effort to correct colonial era imbalances in land ownership. Critics say it is part of the increasingly authoritarian government’s effort to maintain power amid more than two years of economic chaos and political violence mainly blamed on the ruling party.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai lashed Mugabe’s speech as yet another ”indecent partisan junket to spread a message of violence and hatred.”
The nation was suffering from political violence, disease and an impending hunger crisis, ”yet Mugabe’s message to the nation was a promissory note for more misery and death,” he said.
The state-run Herald newspaper said the agriculture ministry was deploying officials this week to check the status of the farms.
”Farmers who choose to remain should know the government would not hesitate to apply the law,” Agriculture Minister Joseph Made Minister was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, told the Washington Times daily newspaper that Mugabe would be out of power in one year.
”Time is running out for this country,” Tsvangirai told the conservative daily in an interview from Harare on Monday.
”We have six to 12 months at the most — that is, if we can survive that long. If we can achieve change within 12 months, then maybe there is hope.”
However ”if it goes beyond a year, the government will have destroyed the infrastructure of this nation and the spirit of its people. It will mean the subsistence and informal sectors dominating and no investment. It’s another African basket case; that’s what it will mean,” he said.
In July police summoned Tsvangirai to take down a statement on allegations that he threatened to overthrow Mugabe. Tsvangirai, who is already facing treason charges, denied the charges. – Sapa-AP, Sapa-AFP