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From: as on 8 Aug 2010 08:32
Zim court gives white farmers 24hrs to vacate land

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Own Correspondent Wednesday 27 January 2010

HARARE - A Zimbabwean magistrate court on Tuesday gave four white
farmers 24
hours to vacate their properties, the Commercial Framers Union (CFU)
said on
Tuesday.

The mainly white CFU, which last week criticised the power-sharing
government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai for failing to end chaos in the farming sector, said the
magistrate ruled that the four farmers were guilty of refusing to
vacate
their properties.

The union said the farmers were slapped with a US$800 fine each and
ordered
to immediately move out of their homes and vacate their farms by
Wednesday
(today) evening - in a ruling that highlights worsening fortunes for
Zimbabwe's white farmers who have also come under increased attacks
from
Mugabe's supporters since formation of the coalition government.

The evicted farmers are Algernon Taffs of Chirega Farm, Dawie Joubert
of
Stilfontein, Mike Odendaal of Hillcrest Farm, Mike Jahme of Silverton
Farm -
all from the southeastern district of Chipinge.

According to the CFU, the magistrate said if the four failed to vacate
their
properties as ordered by the court they would spend the next two years
in
jail and the union indicated that the farmers were preparing to appeal
against the eviction orders.

"Under the Constitution of Zimbabwe everyone has the right to appeal
but the
magistrate denied them this right saying there was no doubt in his
judgment.
Urgent applications are currently taking place in Harare on behalf of
the
evicted farmers," the CFU said, adding; "The farmers are desperately
moving
their life's belongings into the local Dutch Reformed Church for
safety."

The unity government of Mugabe and Tsvangirai has watched helplessly as
members of the security forces and hardliner activists of Mugabe's ZANU
PF
party intensified in recent weeks a drive to seize all land still in
white
hands, causing deep frustration among the farmers.

The beleaguered white farmers, in a strongly worded statement last week
labelled the ongoing farm seizures a "crime against humanity" and
called on
the coalition government to act to end lawlessness on farms in keeping
with
the 2008 power-sharing agreement that gave birth to the administration.

Under the power-sharing agreement Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara, who is third signatory to the pact, promised
to
restore the rule of law in the farming sector, including carrying out a
land
audit to weed out multiple farm owners - nearly all of them senior ZANU
PF
officials who have hoarded most of the best farms seized from whites.

The coalition government is yet to act to fulfil the promise to restore
law
and order in the key agricultural sector, while more farms - including
some
owned by foreigners and protected under bilateral investment protection
agreements between Zimbabwe and other nations - have been seized over
the
past few months.
And to make matters worse, according to the CFU, police and judicial
officers who are supposed to enforce the rule of law were also among
the
beneficiaries of the free-for-all land grab. - ZimOnline

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