9 April 2010  

 

EXECUTIVE NEWS

 

We sincerely hope that you had a relaxing few days break over the recent Easter long weekend. In some parts of the country we were also blessed with some late in the season rains, which were particularly welcome in the southern and eastern parts of the country where it was extremely dry. We were pleased to hear that some falls of over 100mm were recorded in those dry areas.

 

Although we have had a shortened week we have continued to be proactive on a number of issues as well as being extremely busy. Our President Deon Theron has taken some well-deserved time out this week to spend time with his family following an ongoing hectic schedule. He will be back in office next week.

 

On next Tuesday, 13 April 2010, we will have the meeting of the CFU Council in the morning followed by the Open Farmers’ Meeting at the Union’s offices at about 3pm. Please make every effort to attend as Tony Fisher of TETRAD will be the guest speaker. All are very welcome.

 

Marc Carrie-Wilson has attended a recent public meeting with ZESA management where some very interesting points were raised. Unfortunately he is off to another thematic group meeting on the Constitution today but has promised to put something together for next week’s bulletin, which will contain useful advice on how farmers should resolve typical problems which they are experiencing with the power supplier. He will be able to answer questions at the Open Farmers’ Meeting as well.

 

Another topic of interest which has come under discussion when farmers visit the Union is the two cases which the Union has recently filed against various Ministers in the Government of Zimbabwe. The case filed in the High Court is with reference to the non-payment of (adequate and prompt) compensation for property acquired by the State as is required by Zimbabwean law.

 

The case filed in the Supreme Court is with regard to obtaining moratoria on the ongoing prosecutions and evictions of our productive white farmers.

 

Although we would like to put these applications on our website there are certain legal ethics and laws which prevent this. Obviously we cannot divulge the strategy behind these two cases, but please find the Draft Orders copied below. Further information will be available at the Open Farmers’ Meeting and once the matter has appeared in court we may be free to publish our two applications in full on the website.

 

High Court case regarding compensation –

 

1.             The first Respondent shall:

 

a)   Forthwith take all steps necessary to ensure that designated valuation officers undertake valuations as at 14 September 2005 of all the farms of the Applicants referred to in this Application within fourteen days of the date of this order and within such period forward the valuations to the Second Respondent; and        

 

b)    Upon compensation being assessed shall consult the Minister of Finance and advise the Applicants as to the form and manner of and period in which compensation shall be paid.

 

2.             Second Respondent shall forthwith take all steps necessary to ensure that the Compensation Committee shall, within 14 days of receipt of the valuations and having fully complied with the relevant procedures in Section 29D of the Land Acquisition Act, assess the compensation payable and forward such assessments to each of the Applicants

 

3.             Interest at the prescribed rate shall be payable on such compensation as is assessed with effect from the 14 September 2005 to the date of payment.

 

4.             It is declared that Applicants, in the event that they challenge the compensation assessed, may approach the Administrative Court in terms of Section 29D of the Act.

 

5.             The Respondents shall pay the costs of this Application jointly and severally the one paying the other to be absolved.

 

Supreme Court case regarding moratoria –

 

1.                   That it is hereby declared that:

 

a)       The prosecutions and criminal proceedings in respect of the Applicants referred to in PART VIII of this application for allegedly contravening Section 3(3) of the Gazetted Land Act are invalid and of no force and effect in that they are in conflict with Sections 16 (3), 18(1), 18(1a), 18(9) and 23 of the Constitution, and

 

b)       The purported acquisitions by the First Respondent of the farming  equipment and material of the Applicants referred to in PART VIII of this Application are invalid and of no force and effect as they are in conflict with Sections 16, 18(1), 18(1a) 18(9) and 23 of the Constitution.

 

2.                   That a moratorium is hereby ordered in respect of any attempt or intention by any of the Respondents:

 

i)                     to evict any white farmer from any farm referred to in PART VIII of this application, and

ii)                   to acquire any farm equipment or material of any applicants referred to in PART VIII of this application.

 

3.                   The moratorium referred to in Paragraph (2) above shall remain in force until Respondents or any of them show good cause by Application to this court that the alleged racial imbalance in the redistribution of land for resettlement as referred to in the programmes of land reform produced by the First Respondent and which programme is a constitutional requirement has not been redressed.

 

4.                   The Respondents shall pay the costs of this application jointly and severally the one paying the other to be absolved

 

Last week, President Deon Theron, Vice-President Charles Taffs and Director Hendrik Olivier represented the Commercial Farmers’ Union at the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Union (SACAU) AGM and meeting in Pretoria, South Africa.

 

The first two days started off with work and debate on the establishment of a regional policy document on land reform within the Southern African block. Positive deliberations were held between the 14 member organisations on the subject.

 

An interesting point was that both the large and small-scale farming sectors were unanimous that property rights had to be respected; law and order maintained; and that full and fair compensation must be paid within a reasonable time period.

 

The terminology used by the other participants to describe the current situation in Zimbabwe was ‘land-grabbing’ to which the entire meeting was vigorously opposed to, whether it be done by either foreigners or their respective governments.

 

What is very clear is that the rest of Africa is moving ahead in agriculture and there is strong dialogue in all their countries between farmers, stakeholders, government and in particular their agricultural unions.

 

Production in all countries within the block has been, at least, maintained or as in many cases increased considerably. In particular Zambia has increased production considerably, and Malawi is now self-sufficient in grain.

 

During this last season South Africa produced 15 million tonnes of maize of which 9 million tonnes will be consumed locally leaving an excess of 6 million tonnes. Tanzania produced 10 million tonnes of grains of which 7 million tonnes were maize.

 

However it is unfortunate that we do not have the same opportunity and encouragement to expand production in this country under the current political land policy and subsequent insecurity. Zimbabwe has therefore been left behind especially in the renewed hunger in the block for agricultural research, technology and development.

 

On the third day the Annual General Meeting was held at which there was unanimous re-election of President of SACAU. The vice presidents who were elected are from Tanzania and Malawi respectively. The elected board members are from Zambia and South Africa (AgriSA).

 

We therefore congratulate the president and his new team and wish them all the best in their encouraging and far-reaching endeavours, many of which will ultimately have a positive effect on the future of agriculture in the SADC block, and particularly in Zimbabwe. The outgoing team were sincerely thanked for their hard work.

 

The Unions had the opportunity of presenting their respective country’s reports and it was very enlightening to listen to these reports, especially to that of Zambia. Our report will be placed on the website www.cfuzim.org next week once an electronic format is available. The SACAU website is also available through our website under ‘Affiliated Unions’.

 

We must apologise for the lack of updates on our website this week but there have been some major problems at the national ISP.

 

The Zambia National Farmers’ Union is an extremely professional outfit catering for both small and large-scale farmers and their membership is growing. This year they have experienced one of their best seasons in their crops being produced. They produced nearly 20 million kg of tobacco and 2.4 million tons of maize this season.

 

The Indigenisation and Empowerment (General) Regulations recently published have come under heavy criticism and scrutiny in a variety of public meetings and consultative workshops which have been held as the deadline for registration approaches. There is no change in the advice which was previously recommended to us and previously published in our bulletins.

 

Below is an extract on the subject which is taken from the Veritas Rights Watch:

 

No amendments to the regulations have been gazetted, so the 15th April target date for submission by businesses of completed form IDG01, showing current extent of indigenisation and, if appropriate, indigenisation plans, remains unchanged.  The Minister of Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment announced that changes, if any, would come only after indigenisation plans submitted by businesses under the regulations had been considered by sectoral inter-ministerial committees and the committees had reported on appropriate changes. 

 

The Regulations are being examined by the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] which has asked the Speaker for extra time within which to consider the constitutionality and validity of the regulations.  If the PLC reports that provisions in the regulations are inconsistent with the Constitution and if the PLC report is endorsed by the Senate, the offending provisions will have to be repealed by the President unless the House of Assembly resolves they should stand [Constitution, Schedule 4 paragraph 8]. 

If the PLC reports that the regulations are consistent with the Constitution, but are ultra vires. i.e. beyond the powers conferred on the Minister by the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, or are otherwise legally unsatisfactory, it will be up to the Minister to decide whether to do something about it – if he does nothing an adverse report would strengthen the case for affected businesses to challenge the regulations in court. 

This week the Valuation Consortium travelled to Bulawayo to carry out a presentation to farmers there to encourage registration of their farms with the group. Our work on the valuations is an essential part of the compensation and agricultural recovery proposal which we are still hard at work on and continually lobbying about with the various sectors.

 

We therefore continue to encourage everyone to renew their membership with the Union and to ensure their properties are registered with the Valuation Consortium.

 

In addition we are still requesting constant updates on farm disruptions and court appearances for our growing database of records. Once we are up to date on currents records we will be working backwards to record all previous incidents right back to 2000. Should you have any old records of incidents, photographs or video clips these will be greatly appreciated – as well as extremely vital for our ongoing and ambitious project. All the information being captured is in an easily accessible format, which will be very useful at some time in the future. It is also very secure.

 

The intended restaurant which will be established in the newly expanded reception area of Agriculture House will be open for top quality meals on 1 May 2010. It is intended to create a quiet and friendly atmosphere in which private and confidential discussions can be held over a good meal. The satellite television will also be reinstalled there to keep you updated with international news and important sports events. However the noise and interference level will be kept to a minimum so as not to disturb the customers.

 

The additional space will be useful for hosting the larger meetings held in the building as we are already finding that the venue currently being used for the Open Farmers’ Meetings is becoming overcrowded due to their popularity.

 

ARAC INFORMATION

 

9^th April 2010

 

ARAC now has around 1600 names on our farmer mailing list and with each send out we are getting additional contacts, we would like to thank both those of you who have passed on our contact information and also in particular those who have made a commitment and formally rejoined the Union and  ARAC. The growing support is a great encouragement to us.

 

The ARAC office has received a fair amount of correspondence in response to our recent news letter and information sheet on the FAO guidelines for compensation. Amongst comments received are queries as to, “Why bother with consequential losses?”  Whilst there are many who see the pursuit of this as an obstacle to achieving a payout for their properties, there are many people, in particular tenants and farm managers whose losses fall exclusively into this category, it is therefore important for an inclusive approach to compensation that our mandate covers these people.

 

There have also been concerns expressed about the extent of farming that is going on out there regardless of the contested nature of the land being used. We believe that this is unsustainable and that real progress towards recovery will only take place once compensation is paid and the field is open to all without discrimination.

 

ARAC will make a short presentation at the Farmer’s meeting on Tuesday 13^th April and our subcommittee chairmen will be available for questions and we encourage you to all attend!

 

For further information contact Shayne or Ben at [email protected] or phone +263 4 309800/19 ext 249 or +263 4 309867

  

The Stable Winery

in conjunction with

Rooneys

have enormous pleasure in inviting  you to our annual

Wine Festival

 

When:  Saturday 15^th May 2010

Time:  12.30 midday

Where:   The Stable Winery

35 Kingsmead Road West

Borrowdale

 

 

This year we will be raising money for SOAP

“Support Old Age Pensioners”

A very desperate plight in Zimbabwe.

 

 

Once again we have a fabulous day planned for you….

 

 

 Delight in the experience of tasting wines from over 40 estates:-

This year we have 25 vintners (of the 40) joining us from The Cape.  

While tasting all these fabulous wines you will be serenaded with

Live Music through the day:-

 (Surprise artists from SA)

 

A stunning array of foods:-

Salmon and champagne;

  fillet, sirloin, rump;

chicken (piri piri, barbeque, lemon and herb);

sheep on the spit;

 imported deli and gourmet buffet supplied by Veg and Vine;

local and imported cheeses; freshly baked breads;

 Belgium Chocolates, coffee, cigars and Port.

 

All of the above for $50.00 per person.

 

Cash Bar – selling beer and cool drinks – available from 3.00 pm onwards.

 

Bookings are now open

Ph: 882133, 885224

0915 076 554

0913 302 560

0912 630 520

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

 

 

COMMODITY UPDATE

 

ZIMBABWE CROP PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION (from the desk of Richard Taylor)

 

 

Just a reminder that Northern Farming are looking for farmers who would like to grow

wheat this season.  Please contact either myself on [email protected] or Lance Kennedy

on [email protected] or his cell 091-3-219113 for further info.

 

Local as at 9 April 2010 US$

Commodity	GMB	Agrifoods	Intergrain	Staywell	Croplink
White Maize	325	300	280	310	300
Yellow Maize	325	300	280		285
Maize Bran	150	150		120	130
Soyabeans	280	430	350	390	400
Soyabean Meal		500	500		450
Sorghum	150
Wheat	400		350 350 (imported)	385 (imported)	420 (imported)
Wheat Bran		100	110		130
Sunflowers	250
Groundnuts	250 (unshelled)		800 (shelled)		650 (shelled)

 

South African Foreign Exchange (SAFEX) as at 9 April 2010

Commodity	Rand/Tonne	US$/Tonne	Import Parity Rand/Tonne	Import Parity US$/Tonne
White Maize	1103	152	1263	174
Yellow Maize	1125	155	1285	177
Wheat	2092	288	2252	310
Soyabeans	2515	346	2675	368
Sunflowers	3275	450	3435	472

 

International Gulf

Commodity	US$/Tonne			Import Parity US$/Tonne
Wheat	197			347
Maize	155			305
Soyabeans	367			517

Source: South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS)

 

 

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DAIRY FARMERS (from the desk of Rob Van Vuuren)

 

Please be reminded that the Commodities Forum AGM 2010 meeting at Troutbeck, Nyanga is taking place from 5^th to 7^th July.  The first circular letter with details about this meeting was sent out via e-mail to the NADF group mailing list has been sent out twice now.  Should you not have received this, please e-mail [email protected] and Debbie will gladly forward this to you.

 

STABEX VACCINE PROGRAMME

Farai Tinarwo continues to vaccinate in the communal areas and is doing an excellent job on behalf of NADF.  The mass vaccination programme in communal areas is picking up momentum and we acknowledge the proactive participation of ZFU and DVFS through their respective P.V.O.s and their staff.  Thirty six veterinary livestock technicians were trained in Gweru recently and this course will be extended to other veterinary livestock technicians in late April and May. 

 

WE AGAIN REMIND PRODUCERS TO PLEASE COLLECT THEIR VACCINES WITHIN 7 (SEVEN) DAYS FROM DATE OF ISSUE OF THE VACCINATION DRAWDOWN AUTHORITY.

 

Rob Van Vuuren will be on leave from 8^th April 2010 until 5^th May 2010.  In his absence Richard Taylor has kindly agreed to facilitate processing applications with the assistance of Debbie Mylroie

 

CATTLE PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION

We have now received confirmation that live animals have been zero rated for vat and this has been gazetted under Statutory Instrument 75 of 2010. 

 

We received an e-mail from Dr Mario Beffa at LMAC/LIT about the zero rating of vat for livestock stating that as far as he is aware the VAT exemption applies to:

01.01 – purebreds

01.02 – cattle

01.03 – pigs

01.04 – sheep & goats

 

Below is an excerpt from a letter from CC Sales Limited to the Chairman and Meat Advisory Council :

“This is a huge development in promoting the formal trade of livestock and we would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Chairman of Cattle Company Holdings, Themba Ndebele, the Principle Director of the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services, Dr. Stuart Hargreaves; the Livestock and Meat Advisory Council, Dr. Mario Beffa in lobbying the Ministry of Finance for this exemption.”

 

A big thank you to all of those concerned for your efforts and hard work.

 

WEEKLY CATTLE PRICES

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS AND VIEWS

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