Zimbabwe farm acquisitions continue

Self-styled war veterans have been occupying farms since February

By Grant Ferrett in Harare

The Zimbabwean Government is pressing ahead with its plans to seize the majority of white-owned farms, identifying another 500 which it intends to acquire.

The latest move brings to more than 1,500 the number of farms listed for compulsory purchase by the government to hand over to black peasant farmers for resettlement.

A spokesman for the mainly white Commercial Farmers' Union, William Hughes, has described the news as disastrous.

The publication of the latest farm list begins the legal process of acquiring them, and has thrown Zimbabwe's previously highly lucrative and productive agricultural sector into further turmoil.

Tobacco crop planting

Tobacco farmers are scheduled to plant this season's crop in just a week's time.

Whites own one third of Zimbabwe's prime land

Many will now be unable to do so.

Banks have made it clear that they will not provide much needed loans to those who are on the government's list.

Nor is this an end to the uncertainty.

President Mugabe says his government will acquire over 3,000 white-owned farms, or about three-quarters of the total, ending once and for all the racial imbalance in land ownership.

Fast-track 'suicide'

The authorities are implementing what they call a "fast-track" programme of resettlement, which in practice means moving supporters of the ruling party onto farms without providing the necessary infrastructure, such as housing, roads and water.

The opposition has described the government's behaviour as suicidal.

Meanwhile, the illegal occupation of white-owned farms by supporters of the War Veterans' Association continues, with the police abandoning efforts earlier in the week to remove squatters.

The war veterans say they have accepted an apology from the government and are seeking compensation following the destruction of illegally built houses by the police.