Zimbabwean white farmers accused President Robert Mugabe's allies today of leading a fresh wave of farm invasions that could undermine the new unity government.
The government formed by Mugabe and his former rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, is trying to persuade reluctant Western donors to pledge financial support that is crucial to ending the country's devastating economic crisis.
Zimbabwe's commercial agriculture sector has plummeted since Mugabe's supporters occupied white-owned farms in 2000, and the country has had to rely on aid to feed its people. New farm invasions would probably stoke donors' and investors' fears.
A government team led by deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara today visited farms in Chegutu, a rich farming district west of Harare where farmers' groups say 17 farms and 2,000 workers have been affected by new land occupations.
James Etheredge told reporters his $3.5 million farm was occupied in February by Edna Madzongwe, president of the senate and a senior official in Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
"We were forced to leave our farm under cover of darkness by armed thugs," Mr Etheredge, who lived with his wife and his son's family at Stockdale Citrus Estate, some 100 km west of Harare, told Reuters.
Local media say Ms Madzongwe owns three other farms.
The farm invasions in the Chegutu farming district have intensified and appear to be aimed at white farmers who successfully challenged Mugabe's land reforms at a regional Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) tribunal last year.
Mugabe, the country's only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, has vowed not to reverse his controversial land policy and accuses the former colonial power of organising Western sanctions to punish his government for the seizures.
Ms Madzongwe's daughter, Farai, said her mother had given up a previous property so that the government could resettle more black farmers and had had a government offer dated September 2007 when she first tried to occupy Mr Etheredge's farm.
Ms Madzongwe moved onto the 100 hectare farm in February. It exports 400,000 boxes of oranges a year and other citrus fruit.
Reuters