Harare says ‘lucky whites’ will remain on farms

HARARE – White farmers have no future in Zimbabwe and the government will seize more land from the few whites still on farms in the country, Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa said at the weekend.

“Only the lucky ones among the outgoing (white) farmers” could hope to keep their farms, said Mutasa in response to questions by ZimOnline whether eviction orders served on 15 white farmers last week meant the government was revoking its promise earlier this month to allocate land to former white farmers wishing to return to farming. Besides publishing notices in the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper saying it would return land to some white farmers, the government last November also gave land to about half a dozen whites who were part of a group of about 100 black farmers given 99-year farm leases by the state.But Mutasa – a close confidante of President Robert Mugabe and is also in charge of state security – said despite whatever policy pronouncements or other actions taken in the past, the government was clear about the future of farming in the country and that future was black.He said: “The confusion is being caused by those who can’t read the future.There are black people still landless out there, and as long as those people remain, we will continue to take farms for resettlement.”White farmers do not represent the future of farming in this country, blacks do.At the end of it all, I don’t expect to see any more white farmers, just successful black farmers.But of course like with everything in life, there are the lucky ones.Only the lucky ones among the outgoing farmers could remain.”Mutasa’s comments should send alarm bells ringing among white farmers still entertaining hopes of continuing farming in Zimbabwe.Between 400 and 600 white farmers remain on land out of the about 4 000 who were farming in Zimbabwe before the government launched its chaotic and often violent land redistribution exercise seven years ago.The largely white-representative Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) last week said that the government had stepped up displacement of the remaining farmers, adding that eviction notices served on the 15 farmers from the south-eastern Chiredzi district had brought to about 80 the number of farmers ordered to leave in the past five months.Zimbabwe, also grappling with its worst ever economic crisis, has since 2000 relied on food imports and handouts from international food agencies mainly due to failure by new black farmers to maintain production on former white farms.Poor performance in the mainstay agricultural sector has also had far reaching consequences as hundreds of thousands have lost jobs while the manufacturing sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is operating below 30 percent capacity.ZimOnlineBesides publishing notices in the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper saying it would return land to some white farmers, the government last November also gave land to about half a dozen whites who were part of a group of about 100 black farmers given 99-year farm leases by the state.But Mutasa – a close confidante of President Robert Mugabe and is also in charge of state security – said despite whatever policy pronouncements or other actions taken in the past, the government was clear about the future of farming in the country and that future was black.He said: “The confusion is being caused by those who can’t read the future.There are black people still landless out there, and as long as those people remain, we will continue to take farms for resettlement.”White farmers do not represent the future of farming in this country, blacks do.At the end of it all, I don’t expect to see any more white farmers, just successful black farmers.But of course like with everything in life, there are the lucky ones.Only the lucky ones among the outgoing farmers could remain.”Mutasa’s comments should send alarm bells ringing among white farmers still entertaining hopes of continuing farming in Zimbabwe.Between 400 and 600 white farmers remain on land out of the about 4 000 who were farming in Zimbabwe before the government launched its chaotic and often violent land redistribution exercise seven years ago.The largely white-representative Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) last week said that the government had stepped up displacement of the remaining farmers, adding that eviction notices served on the 15 farmers from the south-eastern Chiredzi district had brought to about 80 the number of farmers ordered to leave in the past five months.Zimbabwe, also grappling with its worst ever economic crisis, has since 2000 relied on food imports and handouts from international food agencies mainly due to failure by new black farmers to maintain production on former white farms.Poor performance in the mainstay agricultural sector has also had far reaching consequences as hundreds of thousands have lost jobs while the manufacturing sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is operating below 30 percent capacity.ZimOnline