HARARE, 24 August (IRIN): After the initial chaos of Zimbabwes farm invasions, a tenuous truce (skrøbelig våbenhvile) based on a survival philosophy of negotiations, barter and political alliances has left about 600 white farmers on their land.
Sustained by a belief that things “will get better”, after nearly 4.000 other white farmers were driven off their land by the ZANU-PF governments fast-track land redistribution programme that started in 2000, these diehards are overcoming the insecurity that their farms can be taken in an instant.
The trade-off for dairy farmer Alan Geluck is downscaling of the Midlands Province farm he acquired in the 1970s: his dairy herd once roamed 5.000 hectars (ha), now it makes do with 1.000 ha.
– Most of my dairy cows were stolen during the height of land invasions, and much of the equipment was vandalised. My farm was drastically reduced to accommodate new settlers, who are growing maize even though the land is hardly suitable for crops, said he.
Geluck is negotiating with some of the province’s “high-ranking” politicians to relocate some of the new farmers and reacquire some land. He said it was a proposal that ruling party officials were warming to because the resettled farmers have not been producing enough and the country is again facing food shortages.
Most of Zimbabwes white farmers gave up hope and took their agricultural skills to Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, New Zealand, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia, but he has chosen to stay in Zimbabwe, the only home he knows, with his son and daughter-in-law – all his other relatives have made new homes in South Africa and Australia.
While Geluck has found favour with the provinces politicians, other farmers are embroiled in the politics of land. Thomas Beattie, farmer in Mashonaland West Province, is in a court tussle with the deputy minister of information, Bright Matonga.
Beattie claims that Matonga seized his workshop and farmhouse, and harvested soya beans and maize seed worth millions from his Chigwell farm, after the government carved up the land for Agricultural 2 (A2) farmers. The A2 model is for those with the financial means and agricultural skills to maintain a commercial farm.
It is one of the incidents in the past month that the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which represents white farmers, has blamed for a fresh wave of farm disturbances.
“We continue to be aware of the disruptions to farming and the appearance of eviction notices, which some farmers have received in certain districts in the country,” the CFU said, adding:
“Despite assurances that these matters are being dealt with, and that farmers should continue producing food for the nation, we are aware that in certain areas of the country difficulties remain.”
In a speech this month to commemorate National Heroes Day, President Robert Mugabe called for an end to farm invasions, saying they were counterproductive. But the government continues to run print media adverts announcing the acquisition of more farms from white farmers.
After a conciliatory gesture by Denford Chimbwanda, chairman of the black-dominated Grain and Cereal Producers Association, that “we can learn a lot from them (white farmers)”, and a government at odds over whether white farmers should have farms returned, the CFU has been urging “those still farming, and those wishing to get back to farming … to apply for A2 status as a matter of urgency”.
Renson Gasela, former secretary of agriculture for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, said “those who are opposed to giving support to the white farmers are the ones who still want to grab their land, while those who are sympathetic to them, like (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor) Gideon Gono, realise that for agriculture to get back on its knees they need them back”.
He said the remaining white farmers had abandoned their previously combative stance and adopted a new tactic.
– They do not have a choice but to appear nice to the government, because they would easily be kicked out. What I noticed is that most of the farmers whose farms were not touched were those that were sympathetic to ZANU-PF or had won the trust of neighbouring black people, noted he.
Jo Stomberg, a maize farmer who managed to retain 700 ha of an original 1.200 ha farm in Mashonaland East Province, attributes his survival as a farmer to good relations with the local community.
– When the farm was subdivided in 2003, there was a lot of tension between the new settlers and me. Even though some suspicion still remains, our relationship is generally cordial because I make sure that I help them both materially and through advice, he said.
Kilde: FN-bureauet IRINnews
