ANNUAL REPORT FOR MASVINGO REGION 2011
Although I begin this report by remembering those of our members who have sadly passed away over the last year, perhaps it should be more of a celebration of their lives in which they gave so much pleasure to their families and an unforgettable friendship towards their fellow farmers in our province.
We first had to say farewell to the indomitable John Borland who finally succumbed to a rather prolonged illness after giving so much to the province of his birth. He was always there to lift our spirits with his incredible sense of humour; and was always the first there when you needed him most. John was not only an icon in our small province but also an incredible inspiration to so many in the agricultural field and beyond, including myself.
It is therefore very encouraging to see that Ali and Carl are still able to carry the family flag and keep the Brahman herd’s genetics intact for the next generation to benefit from.
Another inspiration to us all, and me in particular, was Jessie Nesbitt, who was also taken away from us following not only a long illness but was also subjected to the inhumanity and brutality of a very cruel man who humiliated and tortured her and Digby in their home for many months in his determination to force them out of their home.
Despite the incredible hardships she and Digby endured she recorded everything in the greatest detail during this terrifying ordeal to give us a valuable testimony and record so that nobody can ever forget just how terrible this 11-year episode has been in the lives of so many true Zimbabweans. Her courage has therefore been the greatest inspiration to me to keep up the work I am currently doing at the Union on your behalf.
Who of us would ever forget Danie Theron formerly the ‘mayor’ of Gutu and latterly of Mwenezi, before he moved to South Africa once he lost his home and farm at Rutenga? That infectious laugh and boyish sense of humour and pranks, which he played on the unsuspecting, was probably Danie’s trademark, but this should never be let to disguise his incredible generosity and sincere community spirit as well as his love for his family. Danie had been fighting several illnesses all his life, which sadly, finally overcame him in South Africa this year.
Our most recent loss in our province was that of Tom Nel. He was one of our last remaining farmers in Gutu, before he also was subjected to a prolonged ordeal to remove him from his home and farm. Tom was always an inspiration to his farmers and their families in that district and even more so following that terrible and tragic accident. Together with the love and assistance from his remaining family members he recovered and learned to walk and live again.
So, to those four unforgettable characters in our community I ask that we all bow our heads in their memory and to thank the Lord for the good life that they spent with us and their wonderful families with whom we were fortunate to share such good memories.
There are many others whom I have not mentioned in this report but we all know who they all are. We all know that there have been far too many premature ‘casualties’ over the past few years, many of which have been caused by the stress, economic hardships and broken hearts caused by the ongoing destruction of our homes, farms and commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe. When will it ever end?
Amazingly though, despite all the constant pressure a few of our farmers have somehow managed to endure all this, and ‘make a plan’ to keep farming. I applaud them for this incredible fortitude and commitment and how they manage to keep well ‘below the radar’ to continue to do the job they love.
This disassociation with your Union has in fact made my own job of representing you and reporting back to you all out there rather more difficult, but I fully respect your fragile position and encourage you to keep on farming.
However, my request is that, although we know the pressure some may feel they are under about supporting your Union, not to forget that the CFU is still the most respected organisation representing commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe – no matter what rhetoric is being fed through the media.
Although we have not held regular farmers meetings in our province over the last year it is not exactly true to say that our organisation has collapsed in our province. This is because we are still able to maintain regular contact with our members/farmers either when they pop into the Union’s offices in Harare, or by email or by telephone.
For this I must sincerely thank Gary, Jaco, David, Paul and Francois who are our ‘point men’ for keeping me abreast of what is happening in their particular districts. Also those others I call upon at several times – many thanks. And of course to my Vice Chairperson Jean Simon who continues to keep us on the straight path.
This perceived or forced seclusion or isolation of farmers has made reporting back to groups of you rather difficult. I have therefore rather tended to use our weekly CFU Calling bulletin, which I have been writing every Friday, to get the message out to you all, which I hope you have been receiving and take the time to read. Being an email it is a public document so unfortunately we have to be rather guarded in the manner in which we present the information and what information is included, for obvious reasons.
I look forward to the day when we can again all gather together openly and without fear at farmers meetings to exchange each other’s ideas and information and to enjoy each other’s company and culinary delights.
Obviously, when the turnaround does eventually come about, the situation will never return to what it was in the past. This is why your Union has put together the Way Forward proposal, which is on DVD, for a policy which incorporates all sector’s involvement in the resuscitation of commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe.
Another exciting structural change in your Union is the establishment of a joint commodity council made up of elected representatives from all the agricultural unions.
The finances of your Union have also been another casualty of land acquisition and the consequent damage to commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe through the loss of property rights. In an effort to overcome both of these your Union has established an energetic Business arm whose sole task is to generate both finance for your Union as well as find the best deals for those out there who are still farming.
Should everything come together there are some very exciting developments being made available to those farming, both now, and in the future, which will be announced shortly.
However, it is very important that everyone of you out there, whether currently farming or not, continues to remain a member of your Union and to pay the required subscriptions depending on your category of membership.
Since I have been volunteering my services here at Head Office I can report favourably to you all that a huge amount of work is being done behind the scenes on your behalf by both the elected and the staff. Although the actual size of the remaining group here has shrunk considerably their dedication and commitment is unshakable. Whenever we think we are in a corner and have nowhere to manoeuvre somebody always comes with an out of the box remedy to keep us moving forward again.
What it also means is that at least Masvingo has representation at all Council meetings, which has unfortunately not been the case with many other provinces that do not have constant representation or even any representation at all. I must also thank Jean Simon, David Goosen and Rob Beverley who have shown interest and have sat in on Council with me and assisted with effectual debate.
Deon Theron is in his last few days of his Presidency which will come to an end at Congress. Not only has he had to deal with the tragedies and problems and to find solutions for the farming situation in Zimbabwe as a whole but he has been a constant victim of relentless persecution in the courts whilst trying to protect his and his family’s assets. He is probably the first CFU President to be jailed during his term of office, for reasons best known only to the perpetrators of the arrest.
For us who have had the absolute pleasure of working with him for the last few years we sincerely thank him for his absolute commitment and dedication, particularly under such trying circumstances. We also sincerely thank Martha and their family for sacrificing so much of their family time so he could lead us so well.
We also sincerely thank Charles Taffs who has been in the Vice President’s chair for over two years and will be taking over from Deon as President. Charlie is a very fast operator and has put his full weight behind the development and presentation of The Way Forward and compensation proposal. He is probably one of the best ‘salesmen’ I know and has proceeded to successfully sell the proposal to all and sundry. We wish him all the best for his next challenge and look forward to working with him again.
Our province probably has the largest concentration of South African citizens in the country so we must sincerely thank Louis Fick for his commitment on behalf of South Africans and secondly for his courageous and successful court cases against the Zimbabwean Government in the South African Courts. I am confident that you will all reap the rewards of his incredible work, and that is not only South Africans. He is looking forward to working with the new South African Ambassador Mr Mavimbela who has a new fresh approach.
To the CFU’s Chief Executive Officer Hendrik Olivier, what do I say, except where does he get all the energy from and does he ever sleep? He is the backbone of the Union and keeps us all on the straight and narrow and without him and his team of dedicated staff your Union would definitely fall apart.
A report back on activities in our province over the last year it is difficult to show much success of any activity. As is the case in most parts of the country many of our farmers continue to be called back to court for prosecution under the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act. Many of these cases have been prolonged and have lasted several years with farming activity being kept in limbo with the constant remands.
Unfortunately, the final results in court are an inevitable eviction without even a mention of the mandatory compensation. This follows a very disappointing ‘judgment’ from the Supreme Court in the CFU case in which we basically requested a moratorium on the prosecution and eviction of farmers pending the completion of the land audit and formation of the National Land Board in terms of Section V of the GPA. Unfortunately there is no appeal to Supreme Court judgments otherwise we feel that should there be an appeal allowed we would definitely have been awarded a more favourable judgment.
The resultant judgment has unfortunately now been used against our farmers in the Magistrates Courts, and in fact all the courts in efforts to fast track their evictions.
We must pay tribute to Mwenezi farmer, Crawford von Abo, who has been fighting for 7 years in the South African Courts for compensation for the acquisition of his 14 farms in Zimbabwe. His determination and tenacity has become legendry and we salute him. Sadly, though he seems to have lost the final round by the denial of an appeal in the Constitutional Court in South Africa.
Although the major sugar companies have experiences better yields this season the situation is certainly not the same for our commercial outgrowers who have been all but eliminated from the scene. The beneficiaries of the once highly productive sugar farms have again fared badly and are now appealing for donor funding.
The other backbone industry of our province was beef, which has taken a severe knock with the land acquisition and loss of property rights. For those who have been able to remain farming the grazing lands of their livestock have shrunk severely and their management is virtually impossible with the unrestricted movement of the beneficiaries’ wondering herds, which also interfere with breeding programs and disease controls.
Heifer swapping and cattle speculation are probably the main activities undertaken in the industry at the moment.
We only have one commercial dairy producer in the province left and the same goes for poultry, both of which are facing huge economic challenges at the moment and finding it difficult to survive.
In the wildlife industry the situation is slightly different in that probably the majority of those operating within the recognised conservancies have managed to keep on producing, to a limited extent. Their position at the moment is as insecure and tenuous as other farmers as there is continued pressure for the imposition of ‘business partners’, many of which have already benefitted several times from land acquisition as well as mines and businesses through the Indigenisation Regulations.
Some areas in the conservancies are currently under renewed threat of mass invasions. The rhino population is constantly under threat as the poachers continue to carry out their grizzly task with gay abandon and suspected high-level involvement.
We congratulate Raoul du Toit for his international Goldman Prize award which he recently received in America for the protection of the endangered rhino population in Zimbabwe.
As we end off another agricultural year with this report I must say that it has again been a pleasure representing such a wonderful group of people from our province. We have people like Crawford von Abo who has never given up despite the odds and I encourage you all to emulate him and follow his example.
Although it has been a long and brutal 11 years I am still confident that commercial agriculture will be re-established in Zimbabwe once again. For those near destitution we must pray that we will be rewarded in our search for compensation very soon.
Please remain strong and united as always.
Thanks you.
Mike Clark
Chairman
Masvingo Region