Land ruling 'being ignored'

Government supporters have continued to occupy farms

Zimbabwe's Government is ignoring a Supreme Court order to evict government supporters illegally occupying white farms, say farmers.

The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) which represents some 4,500 mostly white farmers in the country said that some squatters were saying that they only take their orders from President Robert Mugabe and not the courts.

The government was told by the court on Friday to halt the fast-track seizure of white-owned farms and evict squatters.

But Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said the land resettlement programme was unstoppable because Zimbabawe was amending "an historic injustice".

The court ruled on Friday that the resettlement policy contravened two fundamental constitutional rights - protection from the deprivation of property and protection from arbitrary search or entry of property.

The ruling instructed the authorities to comply with the law on land acquisition and to remove those occupying farms illegally.

It had been asked to rule on the issue by the CFU.

Occupations continue

Even before the ruling, President Robert Mugabe had insisted that land would be taken no matter what the courts said.

Since the court's decision, government supporters have continued to occupy the land.

The farm owned by the head of the CFU is among the latest to be taken

Under the programme, the Zimbabwean Government says it intends to take over and resettle 3,000 white-owned farms in a space of a few months.

The BBC's Grant Ferret in Harare says that in practice, this means acquiring land without meeting the necessary legal requirements, without paying compensation and without providing infrastructure for the new settlers.

A spokesman for the CFU said that because of the government's attitude the repercussions are likely to be serious.

Many farmers are not planting crops, because of interference by squatters.