About 35 farmers who had ignored government eviction orders have surrendered themselves at police stations, the lobby group Justice for Agriculture (JAG) said on Thursday.
On 9 August 2,900 farmers were meant to leave their land as part of President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme, which aims to transfer land ownership from white farmers to landless blacks. However, most of the farmers have ignored the government's eviction orders and now face arrest.
JAG spokeswoman Jenny Williams said in a statement that 195 farmers "male, female, black and white" had been arrested since Friday, 16 August.
Of these, "145 had appeared in court and most have had 'convictive' bail conditions that have caused them to be evicted without their cases being actually 'heard'. Many are packing as we speak and leaving their homes along with over 6,000 people who live on those farms," Williams said.
Over the past two days "over 35 farmers have voluntarily and bravely marched into the police station and surrendered themselves, all over the country", she told IRIN.
"Justice for Agriculture advises farmers to stay within the law and to this end have tirelessly advocated that farmers challenge the constitutionality of the amendments to the Land Acquisition Act and their Section 8 notices [eviction orders]," JAG said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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