Delays in finalising farm acquisitions

Zimbabwe's administrative court is "hopelessly clogged" with a backlog of contested cases under the government's land reform programme, the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) has warned. Of the 6,001 farms gazetted by the government for acquisition, ownership of only 245 properties had been legally transferred by the administrative court by the end of last month, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported on Wednesday. "It goes to show how few farms have been legally occupied," CFU executive officer Jerry Davison commented. He told IRIN that under the government's land law, the court transfer of ownership should have preceded occupation of the farms. But instead, farms were occupied by new settlers first, often supported by the police, in a process marked by considerable coercion. "That is the basis for our general statement that land reform was not legal," Davison said. Ruling ZANU-PF party members who recently attended a seminar on agrarian reform were reportedly dismayed over the slow progress by the administrative court, ZBC reported, suggesting that civil servants could be responsible for sabotaging the government programme. Davison said the state's lawyers and officials in the ministry of agriculture had often presented their cases very badly, allowing for effective legal challenges. As a result of the backlog, the government was being forced to relist farms already designated for acquisition because a two-year window for confirmation by the court had expired. He said one way to clear the backlog was for the government to pay compensation to farmers for their seized property. "Farmers are contesting because they have nothing to lose. They would take the money and run, but because there is no compensation, it's creating a stalemate in the litigation," Davison explained.