"Illegal settlers" evicted

Twelve thousand black families face an uncertain future as the Zimbabwean government on Thursday pushed ahead with the eviction of "illegal settlers" from undesignated land.

The move was seen as the government's first significant move against illegal settlers since a wave of state-sanctioned farm invasions began two-years ago.

The state-run newspaper, The Herald, reported that the eviction process was expected to last a month. The operation started last week following the issuing of eviction notices issued against illegal settlers.

The government's apparent turn around was received with mixed reactions.

The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which represents the interests of white farmers told IRIN: "We are pleased at the news, however there hasn't been any activity. If followed through, it will sort out this mess. Until we see some action, it is just all talk."

CFU spokeswoman, Jenni Williams added that the organisation hoped the government had made "concrete plans for resettlement".

"It will not resolve the situation if the illegal occupants are simply shifted from one place to another. It will only create more problems. There needs to be a fundamental shift in the government's policy," she said.

But the timing of the eviction has raised eyebrows among some political analysts who suggested that the apparent "softening" could be a political strategy to appease foreign ministers of the Commonwealth Action Group meeting in Botswana on Thursday. Zimbabwe, suspended from the Commonwealth in the wake of controversial elections, was expected to be on the agenda.

Senior political analyst from the Johannesburg-based Africa Institute, Siphamandla Zonde, told IRIN: "The Zimbabwean government has never been shy about exploiting opportunities to renegotiate their position. In January, when the Commonwealth was assessing the situation in the country, there was a dramatic change in attitude of the government toward white farmers. Land invasions were scaled down and a more conciliatory approach was adopted."

Zonde added that the government's decision to evict illegal settlers had nothing to do with a change in its land policy.

"The decision appears to be bigger than it really is. In fact, it is a slight concession that really allays fears of a small but influential group of black farmers and black landlords," he added

Among those already evicted last week were subsistence farmers who had settled on a farm owned by Zimbabwe's Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, a close aide of President Robert Mugabe, Sapa reported.

The Zimabwean government has scoffed at suggestions that the evictions were undertaken to appease the Commonwealth group.

Regis Chikowore, a senior presidential press secretary told IRIN: "What is going on now is not new. We have always maintained that we will not tolerate illegal resettlement. People will simply be moved to land that is government owned. The evictions are not in response to the Commonwealth meeting or in response to anything."

More than 5,000 farms out of an estimated 8,000 properties owned by Zimbabwe's 4,500 white farmers have been targeted for seizure under Mugabe's "fast track" land resettlement plan.

Some white-owned farms have been taken over by ZANU-PF officials and government ministers.

Last week, ZANU-PF used its comfortable majority in parliament to tighten a law governing the seizure of white-owned farms for blacks, passing an amendment giving the government almost immediate control of the farms targeted for acquisition.