A video shot in February 2019 shows a white farmer being evicted from his plantation, despite recent assurances by government that there will be no more farm invasions.
“Government will not tolerate any more illegal farm occupations and those found on the wrong side of the law will face the full wrath of the law as police are now on standby to deal with all perpetrators,” Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Perrance Shiri said in October last year.
Shiri, who was addressing an inter-district meeting in Bindura, said as the ruling party, members should lead by example by following the right channels when they need land.
“On the issue of land, we have notified the police and there should not be any intimidations.
“If any farmer finds people illegally occupying his or her farm, he or she must immediately report the matter to the police who are mandated to enforce the laws of this country. We do not want lawlessness and anarchy to prevail, so we should not be found on the wrong side of the law.
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“If we need land we should simply follow the correct procedures,” he said.
“There are some of us who are becoming selfish and are now illegally distributing land and causing mayhem on farms. Some recently went to a farm belonging to Zimbabwe Assemblies of God-Africa (ZAOGA) farm in Mazowe District intending to forcibly take the farm.”
Sadly, that has not happened as evictions of productive farmers continue unabated.
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Agriculture, alongside mining and tourism, form the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy.
Banks are reportedly unwilling to fund farming due to insecurity of tenure largely arising from continued land invasions.
Zimbabwe embarked on a violent land reform process in the late 1990s, leading to sanctions and other trade restrictions from the United States and the European Union.
The EU is set to review and even impose further sanctions on Zimbabwe in the next few days. — ZOOMZimbabwe
