Commercial farmers plan to head off crisis

A faction of Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) planned to end the crisis facing white farmers by offering a third of their farms for
resettlement and ousting union leaders critical of President Robert Mugabe, the 'Daily News' reported on Wednesday.

The faction, linked to businessman John Bredenkamp and allegedly led by Nick Swanepoel, a former president of the union, was expected to table the proposals before a CFU extraordinary general meeting on 21 March, the report said, adding that Bredenkamp had strong links to ZANU-PF and senior government officials. Greg Brackenridge, chairman of the Zimbabwe Bankers' Association, who has been concerned the government's land seizures would prevent farmers from repaying their loans, has been reported to be backing the proposals.

Under the proposed deal, most farmers would be allowed to keep at least two-thirds of their land, the report said. The British 'Sunday Times' reported that the CFU would change its name and would be led by a black commercial farmer. The new-look union would immediately begin to resettle 20,000 communal farmers on 100,000 hectares of land, with the support of white farmers. The white farmers were expected to plough, donate seed and other services. In return, the war veterans and other supporters would withdraw from hundreds of farms that had been occupied, often violently. In terms of the deal, allegedly drawn up by Bredenkamp and Swanepoel, all legal cases against the war veterans would be dropped.