Government identifies more farms to be seized

The Zimbabwe government on Friday named an additional 509 white-owned farms for confiscation and redistribution to landless blacks. Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, in an announcement published on Friday in the official ‘The Herald’ newspaper, gave the owners of the designated farms until 17 September to lodge objections to the order.

David Hasluck, director of the Commercial Farmers Union, said the new seizure notices did not comply with land reform laws that say farms being redistributed must be carved up by surveyors and provided with roads and materials to keep them productive. “There is no carefully thought out resettlement program that lawful process requires,” he said. “They are just listing farms to destroy them.”