The pace of land reform slowed down after the 2005 elections as the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front became less hostile to white farmers and went for dissidents from the party.
Commercial Farmers Union president Doug Taylor Freeme said the net loss had fallen to one farm per month against the previous rate of one or two farms a week.
He, however, denied reports that Lands Minister John Nkomo was aggressively reclaiming properties from multiple farm recipients, most of them government insiders who were not interested in serious farming but treated the farms as weekend houses.
He said the campaign was directed against just a handful of ZANU-PF figures, all of whom had fallen out of favour, such as Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 05HARARE14, WHITE FARMER GROUP SAYS SITUATION MIGHT IMPROVE
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
061336Z Jan 05
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000014
SIPDIS
C O R R E C T E D C O P Y – CAPTION ADDED
STATE FOR AF/S
USDOC FOR ROBERT TELCHIN
TREASURY FOR OREN WYCHE-SHAW
PASS USTR FLORIZELLE LISER
STATE PASS USAID FOR MARJORIE COPSON
SENSITIVE, NOFORN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR PGOV EFIN ECON ETRD EINV
SUBJECT: WHITE FARMER GROUP SAYS SITUATION MIGHT IMPROVE
FOR ITS MEMBERS
——-
Summary
——-
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Doug Taylor-Freeme, the head of the
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), said the pace of fast track
land reform had perceptibly slowed. He attributed this in
part to the efforts of Reserve Bank (RBZ) Governor Gideon
Gono to try to restore productivity to the agriculture
sector. He said he is also negotiating with the GOZ for the
return of 30 farmers’ land in the Chinoyi region of central
Zimbabwe. Like 500 farmers nationwide, they were still
living on their farms but had been unable to commercially
farm due to the presence of settlers. He hoped an agreement
on Chinoyi would lead to deals in other regions.
Taylor-Freeme dismissed the GOZ campaign against individuals
who had received multiple farms as political score settling
rather than a real anti-corruption measure.
——————————————–
GOZ Attitude Toward White Farmers Improving?
——————————————–
¶2. (SBU) CFU President Doug Taylor-Freeme told Econoff January
5 that the ruling ZANU-PF appears to have become less hostile
to white farmers. Taylor-Freeme estimated that there was
currently a net loss of only one white-owned farm per month.
This rate is well below the rate in the early years of fast
track land reform and even down substantially from last fall,
when the rate was one or two farms a week.
¶3. (SBU) Taylor-Freeme attributed part of the change to the
fact that most farm invasions have taken place just after
planting begins in August. That said, he also credited the
influence of Reserve Bank (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono, who
Taylor-Freeme believes is quietly fighting to bring
fast-track land reform to an end. Taylor-Freeme said Gono
brokered a December meeting between the CFU and Zimbabwe
Defense Forces (ZDF) Commander Constantine Chiwenga, where
the two sides discussed containing further farm invasions.
At the meeting, Gono pressured Chiwenga to agree that the
army should halt farm invasions by War Veterans and private
militias once commercial farmers had planted their crops.
Gono argued that the economy could not afford to lose crops
already in the ground.
——————————————— —
White Farmer Prospects May be Improving as Well
——————————————— —
¶4. (SBU) Taylor-Freeme said he is close to a deal with the GOZ
that would enable 30 idle white farmers in the Chinoyi area
(Mashonaland West) to return to farming. These whites
continue to occupy their farmhouses but there are settlers on
their land, which precludes them from commercial-scale
farming. Taylor-Freeme said nationwide there were nearly 500
white farmers who fell into this category and he hoped the
Chinoyi deal, if successful, would become a model for other
parts of the country. He noted that around 550 of 4,500
white farmers are still engaged in agriculture on a
significant scale, so this approach could potentially double
the number of white commercial farmers and that in turn could
help restore productivity to the agricultural sector.
————————————–
But GOZ Corruption Remains an Obstacle
————————————–
¶5. (SBU) Taylor-Freeme denied that Lands Minister John Nkomo is
aggressively reclaiming properties from multiple farm
recipients, most of them government insiders who were not
interested in serious farming but treated the farms as
weekend houses. He dismissed the GOZ’s very public current
campaign as being directed against just a handful of ZANU-PF
figures, all of whom had recently fallen out of favor, such
as Information/Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo and Foreign
Minister Stan Mudenge.
——-
Comment
——-
¶6. (SBU) An agreement returning land to the Chinoyi farmers
would be a significant step in the right direction by the
GOZ. It would mark a departure from land reform driven by
ideology and could herald more pragmatic, productivity-driven
policies. The success of this effort may very well depend on
STATE FOR AF/S
USDOC FOR ROBERT TELCHIN
TREASURY FOR OREN WYCHE-SHAW
PASS USTR FLORIZELLE LISER
STATE PASS USAID FOR MARJORIE COPSON
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR PGOV EFIN ECON ETRD EINV
SUBJECT: WHITE FARMER GROUP SAYS SITUATION MIGHT IMPROVE
FOR ITS MEMBERS
the extent to which Gono is able to maintain and expand his
influence with Mugabe. Gono appears personally committed to
more rational policies but cannot deliver without the
President’s blessing.
SCHULTZ
(16 VIEWS)
