Most white farmers in Zimbabwe remained on their farms on Friday as a deadline set by the government of President Robert Mugabe ordering them to leave their land expired.
Colin Cloete, head of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), and Jenni Williams, representative of a splinter group, Justice for Agriculture, said the majority of the farmers were still on their farms because they had nowhere else to go.
But Cloete said he understood there was an order for the police to go and pick up farmers who have not yet moved.
”What we have heard is that police are gearing up to try and pick up some people, but farmers are not trying to be confrontational with government,” Cloete said.
Farmers had, in their individual capacities, made special appeals to the government to be allowed to continue farming.
”But what I am worried about is that there is a blanket order to go and pick up farmers,” said Cloete.
He said he had urged CFU members, 70% of them affected by the Thursday midnight deadline, not to resist if police came for them, but to cooperate.
Without getting into details, police representative Wayne Bvudzijena said there were certain mechanisms to be followed to enforce the law, ”but the law is very clear that eviction starts today”.
He would not give details of what form the evictions would take, but added that ”we are certainly aware of our responsibility”.
An estimated 2 900 farmers have received orders compelling them to be off their land by Friday, but neither the government, nor the police have said precisely how many are involved.
Williams, the Justice for Agriculture representative described the action taken by farmers as ”passive resistance”.
”It is passive resistance on a human rights level,” she said. ”There is no way one can describe it as confrontational.”
The High Court on Wednesday awarded those farmers with mortgages a four-month extension because government flouted regulations in issuing the compulsory acquisition notices.
But the number of mortgaged properties is not clear. President Mugabe embarked on a controversial land reform scheme which will involve taking away 95% of land held by whites and redistribute it to black Zimbabweans in an effort to redress colonial inequities.
The land reforms have been marred by widespread political violence, which has led western nations to slap sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle. – Sapa-AFP