Commercial Farmers Union appeals to the world over land issue
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=17304
By Gerald Chateta
Published: May 12, 2010
Harare – The Commercial Farmers’ Union has written a comprehensive document to 50 Embassies, the World Bank, Southern African Development Community and the Zimbabwean Government seeking a way forward for resolving conflict arising from the land reform program.
In an interview CFU President Deon Theron said they were not opposed to the controversial land reform but were trying to find ways to eradicate conflict.
“This is not a secret document we have presented it to the donor community, the Zimbabwean government, World Bank , the Democratic Alliance, ANC of South Africa local Banks and several other stake holders. We are trying to find a way forward among the three major players, being the farmers, Government and the donor and international community ,which we can not do without their assistance. We have discovered that there are individuals who are trying to derail development and continue to cause conflict which does no good to anyone, apart from themselves and we want to get away from that.
“Government is in charge and it needs to engage us (farmers) and the donor community not what is happening right now. We need to stop this bickering over petty issues and start moving forward, “said Theron.
The Zimbabwean government is at loggerheads with commercial white farmers over the land issue since the government embarked on the land reform program in 2000, which it said was meant to balance pre-colonial land ownership.
Before the controversial land reform in 2000 there were over 4500 white commercial farmers who were in the country and out that number 4000 have been chased away.
Since then the country’s agricultural production has been declining and the estimated tonnage of the staple maize crop for the 2009/10 season was just 500 000 metric tones, down from more than two million tones at the beginning of Mugabe’s controversial land reform program in 2000.
In February 78 disgruntled former white commercial farmers successfully sued the Zimbabwean government in the SADC Tribunal Court in South Africa where they were given the green light to attach Zimbabwean properties in South Africa for them to recover their farm developments investments since they were forced to vacate without any compensation by the Zimbabwean government.