Farm seizures go on as Harare’s coffers run dry
Promises of compensation slammed as hollow
FARM seizures in Zimbabwe have not abated, even as the government of President Robert Mugabe admits it is struggling to raise compensation for the nearly 4 500 farmers who lost their farms at the height of the invasions in 2000.
The country’s empty coffers have been identified by its finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, as the main reason for the state’s inability to compensate the white farmers. Nearly 97c out of every dollar the government earned between January and June this year went to pay the salaries of its 550 000 public workers.
Beitbridge farmer George Watson is locked in a court battle to prevent the takeover of his banana farm by the wife of the state security minister, Kembo Mohadi. In Figtree, David Connolly recently lost his farm to Ray Ndhlukula, the deputy chief secretary to the cabinet and the president.
A white farmers’ association this week condemned the latest seizures, which are at odds with government commitments that no new farm seizures would be allowed.
Ben Freeth, who lost his Chegutu farm in 2009, is the executive director of the Mike Campbell Foundation and spokesman for the Southern African Development Community Tribunal Rights Watch.
Freeth told Business Times that the latest farm invasions were indicative of the Zanu-PF bigwigs turning to the farms because the system of patronage had run dry. “The money has run out, so they take what’s there, subdivide the farms and sell the plots for literally millions of dollars,” he said.
Other pockets of takeovers have erupted around Harare. Stuart Gilmour was recently arrested for staying put on his farm after he had been ordered to leave.
The issue of farm seizures and compensation is a prickly affair and the circumstances vary.
In some cases, well-connected individuals use their powerful political connections to push legitimate farm owners off their properties. Watson vs Mohadi appears to be an example of this.
Some new farmers hold legitimate offer letters from the government and are within their legal rights to take ownership of the farm, as in the case of Ndhlukula and Connolly.
But in other cases intimidation and harassment are used by people who have neither the legal basis nor the political connections to push the rightful owners off their farm properties, AT THE GATE: Pippa van Rechteren and her twin daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth, watch farm invaders sing revolutionary songs at her homestead on Chiripiro farm in 2000 as in the case of Gilmour.
Previously, the government said it would not compensate white farmers, but did an aboutturn on the issue last year, indicating it would pay for improvements to the land by the previous owners.
The move was calculated to thaw relations with the West.
“Government has taken a big step towards compensation of previous farmers by expediting mapping and valuation of improvements on farms acquired under the land reform programme,” said Chinamasa.
“To date, $42.7-million [R610million] has been paid out for 43 farms, notwithstanding fiscal constraints faced by the government.”
The cost of compensation is estimated at nearly $30-billion by independent economists and evaluators. The government puts it at $6-billion.
The farm invasions of 2000 were led by a militant war veterans group that was loyal to Zanu-PF but has recently fallen out of favour with Mugabe. In July the group accused its patron of presiding over the country’s economic collapse through careless economic policies.
In their rebuke of Mugabe’s rule, the war veterans, however, steered clear of making mention of how their violent invasions of the farms contributed to Zimbabwe’s fall from being the breadbasket of Africa — famed for its surplus maize production — to being a net importer of the grain.
The country’s grain reserves, according to the Grain Marketing Board, are enough to last for only eight months, until May next year. The effects of the drought have also been devastating. Agricultural output is estimated to have contracted by as much as 4.2% as a result of the drought.
At peak production in the ’90s, Zimbabwe was producing more than 2.5 million tons of maize a year. Production of maize has plummeted to 511 000 tons this year.
The country has had to turn to maize imports from South ‘PREVIOUS FARMER’: Zimbabwean commercial farmer Tommy Bayley rides towards a temporary home ahead of war veterans and villagers who invaded his farm Danbury Park, 30km northwest of Harare, in April 2000 Africa and Zambia to meet national demand of 2.2 million tons.
To augment the maize supply deficit of 1.7 million tons, Chinamasa said, the country was reliant on imports by the government, private sector and development partners.
Figures show that by the end of July the government had spent $71.5-million to import 188 831 tons of maize. The private sector had spent $100-million to bring in 278 000 tons and development partners had chipped in $110-million for grain imports.
Freeth questioned the claims of compensation by Chinamasa.
“We are perplexed. We don’t know of the 43 farmers he has paid,” he said.
“There was a recent case of Interfresh over a Mazoe property that went to the Administrative Court and $27-million was awarded. We understand that has been paid by Chinamasa, but it was in Treasury bills.
“If the $27-million is of that $42.7-million and has gone to Interfresh, which is not a whiteowned entity, it will be interesting to hear who the 42 people that have received the remaining $15-million are,” Freeth told Business Times.
“No one knows who these white farmers are and where they are from, which Chinamasa claims to have paid.
“This is just grandstanding without any doubt. Even if $42.7-million was paid, it is a drop in the ocean given that the government’s own valuation is $6-billion for compensations.”
On Wednesday, Chinamasa’s standing was further undermined, casting doubt on his credibility.
Christopher Mushohwe, the information minister, struck down Chinamasa’s plans — announced in his midterm fiscal policy budget statement — to axe 25 000 public workers, freeze bonuses and tax public workers’ allowances.
Mushohwe said the proposed measures were “not friendly operative” and had not been sanctioned by Mugabe or his cabinet.
“It is hoped that this clarification puts to rest anxieties that may have arisen within the civil service, the farming community and the public at large,” Mushohwe said.
It has not been all doom and gloom for Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector: the tobacco industry has been a success and continued its bull run this year.
Resettled black farmers produced 201 million kilograms of the leaf this year and earned the country $600-million in foreign exchange.
Zanu-PF chiefs turn to the farms because the system of patronage has run dry Government has taken a big step towards compensation of previous farmers