No jail for squatters' leader

Hunzvi: Cut a deal with farmers' lawyers

The leader of the wave of illegal farm occupations in Zimbabwe, Chenjerai Hunzvi, has received a fine and a suspended jail sentence after being convicted of contempt of court.

The conviction relates to his failure to comply with a court demand last month to instruct his followers to leave hundreds of white-owned farms.

Mr Hunzvi must pay a fine of 10,000 Zimbabwe dollar (US$263), and faces a three-month suspended jail sentence.

The judge said that such a conviction would normally attract a custodial sentence, but he had decided to suspend the sentence in the light of comments made by lawyers representing the white farmers' union.

They argued that prison term would be undesirable, given the fluid situation on the farms.

Our correspondent in Harare says it was clear that the light sentence was the result of a deal between Mr Hunzvi and the white farmers.

Mr Hunzvi's legal representative said he was making "tremendous efforts" to comply with a previous court order to instruct his followers to abandon their illegal occupations.

Mr Hunzvi must also pay the costs of the case.

Previous hearing

When the squatters' leader appeared in court at the beginning of the month on separate charges of fraud, hundreds of his supporters besieged the building.

A squatter stops a white-owned truck

Since then, Mr Hunzvi has repeatedly urged his supporters to remain on the white-owned farms, and hundreds more farms have been invaded.

In public, he has repeatedly stressed that the invasions should be peaceful.

In spite of that, attacks on farmers and their employees have continued.

Mr Hunzvi was due to appear in court two weeks ago, but farmers' leaders urged the judge to give him more time to comply.

Essentially, they feared that a bad situation could become even worse if Mr Hunzvi were to be jailed, prompting a new wave of violent farm invasions.

More violence

At least three opposition party supporters been killed this week.

Two were members of the small opposition United Party, and one from the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

This brings to 24 the number of people killed in the political violence of the last two months.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and South African President Thabo Mbeki, meeting in London on Thursday, said they shared a key goal over the Zimbabwe crisis - to return stability and prosperity to the country.