Zimbabwe today warned "arrogant" white farmers to leave their land, but hundreds remained on their farms a day after the expiry of a deadline set by the government of President Robert Mugabe.
Reporting on the showdown, in which the government said 400 of an estimated 1,600 white farmers had left their land, the Commercial Farmers Union said the situation remained calm.
"So far we haven't received any reports (of arrests), the situation is up to now calm," a union official said. "We have not heard of any instances or anything, so its fairly quiet."
The state-owned Herald newspaper quoted the acting lands minister, Mr Ignatius Chombo, as saying he was happy that the 400 had complied with the eviction orders.
But he dismissed the excuses of those remaining and called the farmers "an arrogant lot." "All the excuses by farmers show what an arrogant and racist bunch they are. It shows they want to derail the land redistribution programme by all means," he said. "They will not succeed."
Those farmers remaining were reported by their union to be awaiting responses to individual appeals against the eviction orders instituted under Mr Mugabe's controversial land reform scheme to take land from whites and re-distribute it to landless blacks.
"The commercial farmers are a racist lot that want privilege for themselves only. Time has come," Mr Chombo said. "We've told them in no uncertain terms that we are going to distribute land and that the land reform is irreversible," he said.
An estimated 2,900 white farmers were under orders to vacate their properties by midnight on Thursday. Government officials have warned farmers who ignore the eviction order that they will face legal action. Farmers could be fined and jailed for up to two years for violating the order.
"Those who are going to work against the laws of Zimbabwe will have no-one to blame but themselves. The law will take its own course. Simple and straightforward," Vice President Mr Joseph Msika said on state television Friday.
So far there have been no reports of farmers being arrested but some have been harassed and intimidated by government supporters occupying their lands, the union said. AFP