ZANU PF union intensifies campaign to seize Chinoyi farms
By Alex Bell
29 August 2012
A ZANU PF aligned trade union group has intensified the party’s campaign to
seize two commercial farms in Chinoyi, by threatening protest action.
The Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) is reportedly mobilising farm
workers to stage demonstrations against their white employers, allegedly
over unfair labour practices. The campaign was launched last week and is set
to target the farms belonging to Douglas Taylor-Freeme and Danny Bosman.
Both properties have been singled out for seizure under the unlawful land
grab campaign, and for several years the farmers have been fighting to
retain their legitimate hold on their properties.
The threats by the ZFTU are now believed to a fresh angle of attack by ZANU
PF, to force the farmers to give up and hand their properties over.
Charles Taffs, the President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), told SW
Radio Africa on Wednesday that this tactic of falsely accusing the farmers
is part of what he called active “oppression.”
“Nothing is held back when it comes to intimidating white farmers. This is a
deliberate attack on the farmers, by making up stories for a political end,”
Taffs said.
The land grab campaign has, since its launch more than a decade ago,
devastated Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector and forced the country to rely on
international food aid. The campaign has also resulted in millions of people
losing their homes and incomes, with farm workers and thier families also
being victimised in the attacks.
Taffs agreed that it is a tragic irony that this latest attempt to force the
farmers off their land is being done in the name of farm workers, when the
land grab has never benefited workers before.
“Internal displacements on farms have been in excess of a million people,
all because of a process that services a few chefs. The country is once
again facing hunger because there isn’t food being produced and unless the
government puts a stop to this, then we’re going to have a critical
situation on our hands,” Taffs said.