09 JULY 2010
EXECUTIVE NEWS
For most of the people in this building the week started off very cold as they majority of the staff and elected leaders spent a few days attending the Crops and Livestock Annual General Meeting in the cold Nyanga mountains at Troutbeck.
The AGM was well attended and our congratulations go to Rob van Vuuren for receiving the Dairy Oscar for 2010. Rob has always been one of those guys who just puts his head down and gets thoroughly involved in his work so it was very encouraging for the industry to show this appreciation and to recognise his huge role he has played in the industry which has been spread over many years.
We will leave the other coverage of the event to the other commodities to describe but it is worth mentioning that at least one of our elected leaders proved that he has not had any time to practice his golf over the past few years as he won the prize for amazingly losing 13 golf balls. Did they go into the dam or into Mozambique? There will no doubt be several sides to that story. But at least he should not be ashamed of his lack of practice because we know he spends most of his time looking after our interests.
It sounds like it was very cold up there with lots of talk of the iced up car windows in the mornings. They can keep that as it has been cold enough everywhere else this winter! Perhaps Kariba would have been a warmer venue?
On the second morning several of the speakers came to the meeting late. Their excuse was that they were recovering a delegate’s car which was saved by a single small tree from slipping off the steep mountain slope into the deep valley below. Well that was their excuse anyway.
Of course this is congress season and preparations are well under way for our CFU Congress which will be held at Meikles on the 2nd and 3rd of August 2010. The date is approaching fast so we are requesting that all nominated delegates and other members or ex members who wish to attend please let us know well in advance so that we make the necessary registration and catering arrangements. This is extremely important in order for the event to be a success and that nobody goes hungry – or thirsty for that matter.
Apart from the above the week did not start off very well with another 2 farmers being evicted through conviction in the magistrate’s court. The first was in Harare and the second one was in Gweru. Both farmers have appealed both their convictions and sentencing, which in effect changes the matter from a criminal to a civil matter and thus automatically stays the eviction pending the outcome of the appeal. However, as we have found in most cases the sentenced farmer prefers to make an official High Court application to suspend the execution of the eviction, which has been granted in all cases so far.
So far we have had 25 farmers who have been evicted through the courts and have been the final outcome of very lengthy cases lasting a couple of years. We do have one or two cases where farmers have been ambushed in the courts and evicted in a single court appearance but this has generally been when they have gone to court without legal representation.
We are putting our hope in our application for a moratorium on prosecution and evictions which is currently with the Constitutional Court. We firmly believe that our arguments are extremely sound and will have far reaching effects once heard. Our lawyers have drafted a summary of the proceedings which will be distributed to farmers once completed to give them a better understanding of the case in which our original application contained 554 pages of affidavits and evidence.
Our lawyers are still waiting for an appointment to meet with the Registrar of Companies to discuss the position with continued registration of companies which have title deeds of acquired properties in their names. We will update you as soon as she has made a decision on the matter.
During the week we circulated on email the new ZESA rates, which we were unable to cut and paste into the last CFU Calling due to the security feature on the document to prevent alterations being made. Should you not have received it please do not hesitate to contact us. We will try to upload it onto our website for your convenience.
The joke that is going around at the moment points out that we used to have standby generators, but now we have standby ZESA!
Next week will be very busy here at the Union as we have CFU Council on Tuesday 13 July 2010 followed by the Open Farmers’ Meeting, which will be held in the foyer downstairs.
The Open farmers’ meetings held at the CFU Office have become a very popular forum for our members to air their views at as well as receiving an update on issues. At the last meeting the following issues were discussed:
- South African Nationals group update and pensions
- John Laurie gave an update on the Valcon mapping exercise and valuations
- Update on security situation
- Compensation and recovery proposal update
- MOU on mentorship with small-scale producers
- SADC Tribunal case update
- RBZ case
- NEC
- Congress
- Restructuring
The guest speaker this coming week will be Mr E Chikaka of Tetrad who will be speaking on aspects of the Indigenisation Act and what it means for companies.
The CFU database is coming together nicely at the moment but there is still a huge amount of work still to be done. When information is requested from individuals their response is sometimes that they have given it all to CFU long ago and it should be in their records. Sure, this may be the case but with changes in staff and movements of information due to security issues that information has been scattered around in many places.
At the moment we are rebuilding the database, which has taken some time because most of the farmers are also scattered all over the place. But let us assure you that we are currently uploading any information available, even if it is out of date. As updated information comes in the necessary changes are made.
The Farmer’s Licence application and renewal forms will be redesigned which will assist in updating current information. Security of all the information gathered has been a major aspect in its design which prevents insecure access to information.
However, we are still experiencing great difficulty in accessing information on the situations on farms and on court dates. We therefore once again appeal to you to report everything that is happening, or what has happened to [email protected] The database will only be as good as the information you give us and we can assure members of the strictest confidence.
Now that our records are coming together we are also able to reunite long lost friends or neighbours who are now scattered all around Zimbabwe and the globe. So let’s look at this positive side and assist us in getting all the records thoroughly updated.
It is also very important that all South African citizens who are or were farming in Zimbabwe get all their details to Vice President Louis Fick [email protected] and his secretary Louise O’Connor [email protected] Please do not just assume that they have all your details – it only takes a short email to check up on this. There is a lot of interest and movement on the South African citizen’s issue at the moment so it is in your own interest to contact them, especially with regard to the possibility of receiving South African pensions etc.
The Presidium met with officials from South Africa’s Ministry of Finance and the Treasury on Thursday 7 July 2010. The officials were here on a fact finding mission and to appraise themselves of the facts of the situation.
Your Union therefore had the opportunity to present the Agricultural Recovery proposal to them. Discussions followed and the proposal will be taken back with them to Pretoria.
The plight of both the South African and Zimbabwean farmers was conveyed to them and explained in great detail. President Deon Theron again highlighted the need to respect title, implement law and order across the board instead of the current selective and partisan application thereof, especially to respect and implement any Court orders, particularly those in favour of the farmers.
We have previously spoken about the introduction of our new monthly farming magazine which we had initially hoped to be out by April – 2010 that is. However there have been a number of stumbling blocks and we are trying to get it out just before Congress in August – yes 2010. Our sincere apologies for the delay but we hope the initial problems have now been overcome.
This week an important MOU was signed between the CFU and the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union so that we can link up with their members in an agreement of the transfer of skills from our members. This would provide some much needed employment for a number of our members in a donor funded mentorship program, which would increase the production level of ZFU members farming on non-contested agricultural land. The program will be run by CFU through ARAC and the Commodity Associations.
We still have several hundred membership cards waiting collection in Natanya Scott’s office and we urge you to collect these or arrange for a friend to collect them as we do not send them out in the post, unless specifically requested.
For those prospective members who wish to pay their subscriptions through bank transfers, from either internally or externally, please note that our bank account number has suddenly been changed by the bank.
The details are as follows, which are also available on the website:
Commercial Farmers Union
Standard Chartered Bank
Avondale Branch
Account No: 870022 726 2100.
Finally, the NGOs have got together to print some literature on the factual information about the writing of a new constitution. The books are available at the Union for your distribution to people in your community.
Crisis in the Labour Sector
Members are advised of the position with relation to the recent so called Collective Bargaining Agreements. The Secretariat of the NEC Agriculture continues to insist that the recent purported Collective Bargaining Agreements for General Agriculture and the Agro Industrial Sectors were validly concluded. We have taken the clear and firm position that this is not the case. Several Employer Representative Organisation, including The Horticulture Promotion Council (HPC), the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union, the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association, the Kapenta Producers Association, the Timber Producers Federation, the Zimbabwe Tea Growers Association and ourselves were not consulted in the concluding of these agreements. We are in the process of joining in with some of these groupings in a court action to overturn these purported Collective Bargaining Agreements because they were not procedurally concluded.
However, we expect that the confusion caused amongst Labour forces will continue to be exploited by Employee representative Organisations to pressurise Employers to pay in accordance with the Agreements. The incentive is to gather a commission (in some cases as high as 35% of any negotiated settlement).
We call upon all members to please allow us, and the above mentioned partner organisations, time to exhaust all legal remedies before paying in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreements. We particularly refer to the back payment amounts. You may continue to refer any queries in this regard to the CFU offices. We further advise members, if visited by representatives Workers Unions and NEC designated Agents who insist that you adhere to the terms of the impugned Collective Bargaining Agreements, to request that they place their demands in writing in order to allow you time to consider the demands and seek advice.
Your attention is drawn to the advertisement placed by NEC Agriculture on page B9 of Friday the 9th of July 2010 edition of the Herald, where the NEC secretariat states its position quite clearly. This is despite the fact, as mentioned above, that members of the NEC are engaging in litigation to overturn the purported Agreements. We together with other Employer Organisations some of whom are represented at the NEC will be responding to this advert jointly.
As regards NEC dues, in spite of the NEC threat to sue individual employers, we advise members to ensure they set the amounts aside, but to not remit them until these matters are resolved. The NEC has failed to produce lawfully required audited accounts for the past 5 years. It would be irresponsible to advise our membership to pay NEC dues when it is unclear how the funds are used.
We continue to maintain the view that the success of agriculture in Zimbabwe is dependent on fair and reasonable Labour policy and Collective Bargaining Agreements. The imposition of Back Pay and frequent re-negotiations of Collective Bargaining Agreements are not warranted in a stable multi-currency environment. Agricultural growth and economic recovery will be seriously jeopardised if this trend continues.
RBZ Claims
Members are advised that the claims against the reserve Bank are now subject to the provisions of the State Liabilities Act in accordance with the regulations in Statutory Instrument 115 of 2010, promulgated in terms of the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act [Chapter 10:20].
The basic effect of this is that any judgements against the RBZ may not provide for the attaching and sale in execution of property belonging to the RBZ. For more information contact Marc Carrie-Wilson e-mail [email protected] .
AGRICULTURE RECOVERY AND COMPENSATION (ARAC)(from the desk of Ben Gilpin)
Thanks for all the feed back to our questions; your answers have given us a real insight as to how we are doing (Or NOT!)
Amongst the replies was a reference to a passage in Alice in Wonderland, I believe the text is well known to many:
Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
I guess that where we are trying to get to defines the journey! For all of us who for years laboured to be good stewards of the land and good citizens to boot, the label of “unpatriotic” has been a painful label to have thrust upon us. A casual walk through any supermarket or shopping area in Zimbabwe quickly demonstrates just how little is now produced in the country. As a child who lived through the sanctions era I recollect just how little then available was not local in origin. I suspect the real sanctions in place here are those that exclude and undermine the participation of genuine producers, and committed and competent farmers in particular.
Our objective must see the restoration of peoples’ rights and the environment that upholds them. This is clearly a process and not an event at this stage. How long it will take we can surely not predict. However we are sure that any effort that helps facilitate the process is worth engaging. An article in The Zimbabwean on 6th July reports “Fireworks expected at CFU Congress”. It touches on the ongoing farm violence and the proposed recovery plan. A figure of $5 billion is mentioned as the price tag put last year by farmers on the value of farms and assets seized. We are unable to establish the source of this figure which considerably understates the reality of any composite claim.
For all who either continue to farm under extremely trying circumstances or those now forced to sustain themselves without access to their legitimate agricultural investments, we work in the certainty that the current situation is unsustainable and in the belief that there are enough people of good will to bring about meaningful change.
Change is a process and just as with a patient diagnosed with cancer there is the inevitable coming to grips with it through dealing successively with denial, resistance, exploration, acceptance and finally adoption of the reality and what must be done. We see also a shift in the attitudes of an ever increasing number of people. How long it will take the diehards to embrace this process, we can’t say, but we believe it will eventually happen. We need to be ready for that time and our efforts are focused in that regard. For those still on the land there remains the painful possibility that they too will be forced at some stage to relocate to town. Their unresolved political environment leaves the likelihood of further upheaval before stability and recovery is possible, in this context the unity of us all as farmers is imperative.
When I started this letter I inadvertently hit the “w” at the same time as the “e” and ended up with “Farmwer” and not the intended “Farmer”, would that we were one in reality: as a Union we have no choice but to cater for all and work for a resolution of the crisis that has undermined all of our rights.
As we do this we do well to remember that the difficulties that we have experienced are shared by most of the nation and any solution must be inclusive.
Today we mourn the passing of a great lady from our farming community, Philippa Henderson. After a long service in teaching in Norton she started Tsungirirayi in the mid 1980s. The programme continues today to serve the needs of around 200 orphans and others affected by the ongoing HIV/ Aids pandemic. She was locally known as the Mother Theresa of Norton, whilst we celebrate her life we wish great consolation to her family, she will be greatly missed.
COMMENTS AND VIEWS
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