ZIMBABWE: Mugabe's land-reform policy is proving disastrous, writes Declan Walsh from Norton, Zimbabwe
The farmer's pick-up bumped along a track down the centre of his broad field, then stopped.
He rolled down the window and pointed to a field of green tobacco plants. Then he pointed out a straggly line of yellow maize, withering in the sun.
"There's no doubt we need land reform in this country," he said "but if this is the idea, then God help us all."
The "fast-track" land reforms have been the most controversial aspect of Robert Mugabe's presidency. But as he runs for re-election next week, the policy is proving disastrous.
It has plunged the economy into freefall and, as Zimbabwe faces its worst food crisis in a generation, the land reforms are causing hunger among the very people they are supposed to feed.
According to a recent UN report: "The programme that was supposed to provide stability is at present the cause of much of the economic political and social instability in the country."
Up to a couple of months ago there were 20 settler families on the Sinclair farm, led by war veterans. Now just three remain.
The settlers left after their maize failed. This was partly due to the drought currently affecting southern Africa but mainly to a lack of resources and know-how. The government gave the new farmers land but little else.
The settlers planted the maize too late, on the wrong soil, and without any money for fertiliser or tractor fuel. Now the crop is almost useless and the peasants have returned to their original homes, hungry.
Few argue with the need for land redistribution in Zimbabwe. Less than one per cent of white Zimbabweans own - or used to own - over 45 per cent of agricultural land. Rural poverty, particularly in overcrowded communal areas, is over 80 per cent.
But the project has greatly accelerated since July 2000, when the government declared its intention to seize over nine million hectares, mostly using violent gangs of war veterans.
President Mugabe argues the drastic move is the moral right of the country's landless peasants but opponents see it as a populist ploy to deflect attention from his declining popularity. The project has plunged the country into a crisis that has spread far beyond the farming sector. Due to badly shaken investor confidence, the economy has gone into freefall.
And the policy has gone hand in hand with a campaign of rural violence against black farm workers suspected of being disloyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party.
During the racist Ian Smith regime, Jim Sinclair advocated black rule. At independence he toured the country encouraging white farmers to stay on and often spoke from the same platform as Robert Mugabe.
But a year and a half ago he was chased off his farm, then charged with inciting violence. His workers have been beaten up and militants from the ruling Zanu-PF have set up a "re-education" centre on his farm.
Both white farmers and the government have "messed things up," said Godfrey Magaramonde, director of the Farm Community Trust, which represents farm workers. "There is a lot of congestion in the communal areas. No Zimbabwean, black or white, can dispute that. But there is is concern about the present programme," he added. "It is not the way forward."
• The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, expressed disappointment yesterday at the Commonwealth's failure to take strong action against Zimbabwe. "We should have provided a far stronger statement and backed it up with action. We have postponed the day of judgment of Zimbabwe. I think that is the wrong thing to do," he said.