Zimbabwe: Not All White Farmers Will Lose Land - President

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) February 8, 2007 02/13/2007

IT is wrong for the media to claim that only white farmers have lost their land or face eviction in terms of the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act. Speaking to journalists at State House yesterday, President Mugabe said while some white farmers might have been affected, there were other whites whose farms had not been gazetted. He was responding to a question by a reporter working for a South African media organisation who wanted to know the fate of white farmers who, he said, had been given up to Saturday this week to vacate their farms. "It's only those white farmers, perhaps, whose farms have been taken. There are others whose farms have not been taken, so you can't blanket them all and say white farmers. Some white farmers, yes," he said. The Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act came into force on December 20 last year. It provides for the service of two eviction notices: one giving 45 days to farmers whose farms were identified and gazetted before Constitutional Amendment Number 17; and the other which gives 90 days to farms identified and gazetted on and after the amendment. There have been claims in some website-based media that the law was targeted at white farmers only and that they had been given up to Saturday this week to vacate their farms. But according to the guidelines on the implementation of the Act issued by the Secretary for Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Mr Ngoni Masoka last month, farmers resident on the farm and farming will be allowed to harvest their crops. However, those not farming but are resident on the farm should have vacated by the 45th or 90th day as per the eviction notice. According to the guidelines, for every crop, an assessment will be done by the district technical committee to determine the date and harvest. For grain crops such as maize, sorghum, millet and rapoko, the deadline is July 31 2007, while the deadline for seed maize is August 31. The deadline for the removal of tobacco and paprika is March 31, but their removal from the fields, curing and marketing arrangements will be considered as per situation and assessment by the district technical committee. These must, however, be undertaken by not later than September 30 this year. The regulations stipulate that those farmers who have grown soya beans, cotton, sunflower, groundnuts and roundnuts must have harvested by May 31 and then move out. For perennial crops such as flowers, sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, bananas, macadamia nuts, citrus, timber plantations, apples and peaches, the dates would be determined as per the situation. For livestock such as cattle (both beef and dairy), pigs, goats, sheep, poultry, ostrich, crocodile and fisheries, the farmers who received eviction notices would have to vacate by September 30. Wildlife farmers not on conservancies would be referred to the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, while the district technical committee would determine any other farming enterprises' harvest cut-off dates. The new farmer would access the farm in the company of officials from the Ministry of Lands, who would inform them of the date of occupation. The new farmer must not assume ownership of existing crops, livestock, wildlife and movable property and must have an offer letter signed by the Minister of Lands in the case of an A2 farm, or a permit if it is an A1 farm. Enditem