US embassy cable - 04HARARE849

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000849 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/S 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER 
USDOC FOR AMANDA HILLIGAS 
TREASURY FOR OREN WYCHE-SHAW 
PASS USTR FLORIZELLE LISER 
STATE PASS USAID FOR MARJORIE COPSON, ERIC LOKEN 
 
E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EAID, EAGR, EINV, PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: Can Black and White Farmers Join Forces? 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Zimbabwe's mostly white Commercial 
Farmers Union (CFU) and mostly black Indigenous 
Commercial Farmers Union (ICFU) have been holding 
informal discussions that could - one day - lead to a 
merger.  Although there is much on both sides that might 
sidetrack this process, it could prove a significant new 
twist in Zimbabwe's racially-charged land debates.  End 
summary. 
 
Tale of Two Unions 
------------------ 
2. (SBU) The two farmer bodies have been heading speedily 
in opposite directions.  Since only about 600 white 
Zimbabweans are still farming, the CFU has shrunk 
dramatically since 2000; meanwhile, land redistribution 
has swelled the ICFU's ranks to perhaps 20,000 black 
commercial (referred to as A2) beneficiaries of land 
reform.  Yet the CFU still has a vastly superior 
technical and administrative infrastructure. 
 
3. (SBU) On several occasions, ICFU President Davison 
Mugabe and General Secretary Wilson Nyabonda told us they 
wanted a single multiracial union for all commercial 
farmers.  They expressed hope that the CFU would 
eventually agree to a merger, or at least that some white 
farmers would begin to join ICFU on their own.  Over the 
past year, in fact, 18 white farmers have broken ranks 
and enlisted in ICFU, which seeks to de-emphasize its 
indigenous origins and rename itself the Zimbabwe 
Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU).  Mugabe and Nyabonda 
admitted ICFU members would benefit immeasurably from CFU 
expertise. 
 
CFU Leadership Ponders a Radical Move 
------------------------------------- 
4. (SBU) Until now, the CFU has resisted any ICFU 
overtures.  Given its dwindling membership, the CFU is 
afraid the larger body would simply gobble it up.  Some 
CFU members would not want to align with land reform 
beneficiaries, who have settled on white-owned farms 
without due process or compensation.  A main plank of the 
CFU has been lobbying against, and of the ICFU 
encouraging, land reform.  Still, both associations claim 
to be nonpolitical. 
 
5. (SBU) Nonetheless, CFU President Doug Taylor-Freeme 
now tells us he has been holding informal talks with the 
ICFU's Mugabe.  Taylor-Freeme is considering a proposal 
to his board for a closer association and potential 
merger with the ICFU.  The CFU President recognizes he 
would be leading his association down a radical path, 
that he would antagonize many CFU members.  He admitted 
that white farmers from the more militant Justice for 
Agriculture (JAG) would view this gesture as the ultimate 
capitulation. 
 
Why the CFU Could Support It 
---------------------------- 
6. (SBU) Taylor-Freeme's pro-merger arguments are as 
follows.  CFU and ICFU members are both farmers and 
businessmen, sharing similar interests for better- 
functioning markets.  He cannot hope to lobby more 
effectively on behalf of an-ever shrinking number of 
active farmers.  Speaking the local language and having 
spent his whole life in Zimbabwe, Taylor-Freeme wants to 
go nowhere else.  He places a priority on saving 
Zimbabwe's final 600 white-owned farms (and an additional 
500 where the white family no longer farms but still 
remains on the land) rather than seeking restitution for 
the approximately 3,400 already dispossessed - many of 
whom have emigrated.  Although many dispossessed farmers, 
especially JAG members, pin their hopes on fair 
compensation for land, equipment and homes, Taylor-Freeme 
doubts they will ever see fair compensation in their 
lifetimes. 
 
7. (SBU) From the closer association, Taylor-Freeme wants 
GOZ land acquisitions to end, preserving the final 600 
white farms.  The GOZ, CFU and ICFU would work together 
to resettle new farmers from the other 500 farms still 
occupied by whites, enabling former farmers to begin work 
again.  This would mean 1,100 active white-owned farms, 
down from a pre-land reform 4,500.  In return, Taylor- 
Freeme would make all CFU resources available to ICFU 
members and put structures in place for white farmers to 
assist indigenous counterparts. 
 
Comment 
------- 
8. (SBU) Taylor-Freeme, who will be in Washington May 28- 
June 9 for the World Farmers Congress, has his work cut 
out for him trying to sell the proposal to the CFU.  He 
is more farmer than polished lobbyist.  Taylor-Freeme 
also seeks to strengthen the hand of GOZ moderates - 
particularly Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Lands 
Minister John Nkomo - who are encouraging him to move in 
this direction.  In fact, the GOZ's so-called Utete 
Commission report proposes a single commercial farmer 
body.  GOZ hardliners probably prefer the departure of 
all remaining white farmers.  Taylor-Freeme is aware that 
the CFU's hand is far stronger now than it will be in two 
year's time, after more of his technical staff will have 
departed and the GOZ will have expropriated more farms. 
 
9. (SBU) The Embassy, on friendly terms with the 
leaderships of both farm associations, will encourage 
this dialogue.  We recognize that a voluntary CFU-ICFU 
alliance or merger would not go down well with certain 
white and black Zimbabweans.  It presupposes, perhaps 
dubiously, that the GOZ will sign on to a negotiated 
compromise that reaffirms the status of some white 
farmers.  But we believe it makes sense for Zimbabwe to 
find a way to retain whatever white farmer skills it can 
at this late stage, while recognizing that the country 
will not return to the pre-land reform status quo. 
 
Sullivan