Zim farmers murdered, agriculture trumped by mining

A renewed wave of intimidation and violence against the remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe can be attributed to Zanu-PF’s well-worn strategy of upping violence before an election, and to the greed of local politicians who, far from taking an agricultural interest in the farms they seize in great numbers, hope that the land will contain precious minerals, according to Zimbabwean farmers and union leaders.

- Advertisement -

Prominent tobacco farmer Kobus Joubert was shot dead on Scottsdale farm near Chegutu in late October. His wife Mariana was assaulted and 000 was stolen. Earlier in October farmer Tim Chance was killed with his own firearms in an ambush in the Somabhula area, near Gweru.

“Kobus was a determined man and an important farmer, who had 105ha of tobacco in the ground when he was killed. When he and his wife were kicked off their farm a few years ago they went and slept on the side of the tar road. This embarrassed the government and the late vice President Joseph Msika secured a permit for Mr Joubert to remain in his home and continue farming. Now he’s gone,” said Commercial Farmer’s Union president Deon Theron.

“For quite a while now we haven’t had violence of this sort but what we’re picking up now is a huge increase in lawlessness. In my own case, beneficiaries who have been interdicted from coming onto the farm by the high court came to my farm with ministry of land officials, with the police, and took the locks off our gates, put all my furniture on one side of the house, and then put their own locks on the doors so that I can’t get to it. I can’t go to the police because they’re involved,” he said.

- Advertisement -

“The message this disregard for the law sends is very concerning, it just demonstrates to thugs that they can do as they please and there will be no repercussions. This is a definite election strategy.” He said farmworkers are most vulnerable as they have nowhere else to go.

Another trend seems to be the seizure of white-owned farms by local politicians greedy for the mineral potential of the soils.  “The Chiadzwa diamonds fields are the worst thing to happen to Zimbabwe,” said Mike Odendaal, who was forced off his farm near Chipinge in Zimbabwe’s Eastern highlands in July. 

“The ruling party had almost worked through every resource in the land and suddenly here’s this new reason to hang onto power. What one sees again and again is that politicians couldn’t care less about the agricultural potential of the land, what they want are the mineral resources, tangible things to feather their nests and put money in their pockets,” he said.

Odendaal’s wife Debbie explained that local politicians have learned how to play the system.  “According to Zimbabwe’s laws a white farmer has to have an offer letter, a lease or a permit in order to remain on the land. Approximately seven farmers in total have received this documentation since 2000. Being ignored by officialdom should give you a right in law to remain in situ, but that is not how it works in reality.

If a politician wants your land they exploit the fact that it is almost impossible for white farmers to get the right documentation. You will receive a visit from the police and a summons to court. The police pick you up, invariably on a Friday so you spend the weekend in jail, then you appear before a magistrate who has been bought or ordered to deliver a certain judgment,” she said.

The Odendaals believe the Chipinge seizures are speculative, as the extent of the diamond fields in the area is now thought to be one of the biggest in the world. There have been widespread reports that farms, many of them owned by war veterans, are being invaded by artisanal gold panners, called Makoroza, whose numbers rise in direct correlation to economic hardship.

According to a Southern African Network for Training and Research on the Environment report, there are approximately 350 000 artisanal miners in Zimbabwe, and the number of people supported by the informal industry could be as high as 2 million. Informal gold panning is destructive to the environment, especially if mercury is used to isolate the gold.