Christmas onslaught on commercial farmers

Posted by ZDN on December 28, 2009

For Zimbabwean commercial farmer Ray Finaughty and his wife Lorraine, Christmas Eve should have been an opportunity to enjoy a family reunion on their farm in the Rusape area with their three teenage sons, the eldest of whom had just returned home from Australia.

Instead, it was a day of high drama as they were initially barricaded in their home by a group of drunken thugs then allowed to pack up a few possessions before being forced to flee for their lives.

The harassment started four days previously when a group of intoxicated thugs arrived and began threatening the family and interrupting farming operations.

Initially they gave Finaughty just 10 minutes to get off the farm. However, after he managed to reason with them, they extended the time limit to three hours, warning the family that their lives were in danger if they did not meet the deadline.

As Finaughty and his wife attempted to drive off the farm having packed at a frenetic pace under dangerously volatile conditions, one of the thugs leapt onto Mrs Finaughty’s car.

This caused a fight to break out within the drunken group, creating a fortuitous diversion which enabled the family to escape unscathed.

Speaking later from Harare, Finaughty said his family was safe but he was anxious about the welfare of his workers, the 9 300 broilers which he’d been barred from feeding and watering for three days, and about his cattle.

The deliberate starvation of livestock is frequently used as a bargaining tool to force commercial farmers off their land.

Prior to his most recent downscaling, Finaughty’s farming operation comprised 195 Brahman cattle, 11 000 chickens and 40ha of tobacco.

For Finaughty, it has been a decade of trauma. In 2001, he agreed to co-operate with the land reform programme in the hope that chaos and national starvation could be avoided.

To his credit, he managed to coexist with the new farmers, who received no help from the government, and assisted them with fertilizer as well as helping them to plough their lands.

Then, in 2007, a top Reserve Bank employee, Winnie Mushipe initiated her first attempt at seizing Finaughty’s remaining portion of Manda farm. As a result, he has been in court on numerous occasions to try to retain his land, while Mushipe has accused him of refusing to leave what she terms “state owned” property.

Mushipe, who is not an experienced farmer, has been described as “growing nothing but weeds”. She falls into the category of “cell phone farmers” – people who hold high-powered, well-paid city jobs and have no interest in farming the land.

Many “cell phone farmers” make significant short-term money from asset stripping or from forcing commercial farmers off their land just as their crops are ready to reap.

When this latest group of paid thugs moved onto the farm – believed to have been sent by Zanu PF’s Secretary for Administration and former Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa, they fell out with the new farmers who had still received no support from the government and resented the intrusion.

As is the case with farm invasions across the country, the police once again refused to assist Finaughty, describing his situation as “political”.

Finaughty is one of 79 commercial farmers who took their case to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia, a highly respected international court.

On November 28 last year, the Tribunal ruled that the land grab was unlawful and ordered the Zimbabwean government to protect commercial farmers and their workers – and allow them to continue farming their land.

Regrettably the Mugabe government has refused to respect the SADC Tribunal judgement and the ruling has been continuously flouted. The farmers involved in the case have been deliberately targeted for retribution, most notably Chegutu farmer Mike Campbell who, together with his son-in-law Ben Freeth, initiated the case.

Elderly partner under siege

For Finaughty, although he and his family are now off Manda farm, the nightmare continues. He is deeply concerned about his elderly partner, Richard Harland, who remained on the farm with his wife Brita, a chronic asthmatic and now very frail.

Initially the thugs forced Harland to sign a document stating he would be off the farm by January 2 but today the Harlands were under siege and being harassed relentlessly in their home.

Finaughty is also worried about their tobacco crop, which is ready to reap.

Deon Theron, president of the Commercial Farmers’ Union, has continued to raise with government the issue of the ongoing farm invasions and their impact on the dangerously diminished commercial farming community, food security and the country’s already sullied reputation.

“Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been calling for Zimbabweans to come home and for international investors to reinvest, but this is totally unrealistic,” said Theron. “Mr Tsvangirai cannot expect people to return under these conditions, or for the international community to invest in a country which continues to flout the rule of law.”

On December 24, Pretoria-based civil rights initiative AfriForum sent an appeal to the South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, requesting that he intervene urgently to protect the life and property of Finaughty.

The South African government is bound by the North Gauteng High Court ruling of November 26 to honour the terms of the landmark property rights ruling by the SADC Tribunal on November 28 last year that the Zimbabwean land invasions were illegal.

The North Gauteng High Court ruling paved the way for the signing of a historic bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The ruling confirmed a settlement reached between the South African Department of Trade and Industry and Zimbabwean farmer Louis Fick, who is a South African citizen.

This week at least two other Zimbabwean commercial farmers have come under attack, with Minister Mutasa believed to be involved clandestinely in one of them.

Tragedy has also once again struck the beleaguered Chegutu farming community. Sandy Wilde, whose husband was killed in a car accident a few days before Christmas, was given just 24 hours to vacate the family farm.

Although the commercial farmers continue to suffer, the plight of farm workers is even worse, the majority having been left destitute by the land grab. Many have faced horrific beatings and torture at the hands of the land invaders, often under instruction from the Zanu PF elite who have taken over the farms illegally.

ENDS

For further information:

Deon Theron – President
Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 4 309 800
Zim cell: +263 912 246 233
Zim cell: +263-11 606 783
E-mail: dtheron@cfuzim.org

Ray Finaughty
Commercial Farmer – Rusape
Tel: +263 913 263 670
Tel: +263 11 412 555
E-mail: Harland@bsatt.com