Farmers threaten to sue government

A splinter group of Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmer's Union on Tuesday said the organisation intended to sue the government once it had calculated the full extent of losses inflicted on farmers and their workers by ruling party supporters.

Justice for Agriculture (JAG) said economists had estimated that Zimbabwe's commercial farmers had lost US $24 million worth of property through seizure or looting as a result of the government's fast-track land reform programme.

"This could be one of the biggest lawsuits in Zimbabwe or externally under applicable laws. Government ministers, MPs and any other individuals who have ignored the human rights of our farming families will be noted and targeted for legal action," the JAG statement said.

The government has given about 2,900 white farmers until Thursday 8 August to move off their farms, which have been earmarked for redistribution to landless blacks.

JAG said that close to 232,000 farm employees already face arrest and forcible eviction due to the Section 8 compulsory acquisition orders.

"How this edict is to be administered in practice is not known. Government has made very little effort to pay even those farmers who have conceded their farms, and farmers have nowhere else to go," JAG spokeswoman Jenni Williams told IRIN.

Farmers who defy the eviction notice face a fine of US $365 or a two year prison sentence.

Meanwhile, in the last three weeks, over 75 farmers have been barricaded in their homes under pressure to pay staff retrenchment packages, which run into an average of over US $550,000 per farm, according to JAG.