US embassy cable - 05HARARE1346

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001346 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR B. NEULING 
STATE PASS USAID FOR M. COPSON 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE 
TREASURY FOR J. RALYEA AND B. CUSHMAN 
USDOC FOR ROBERT TELCHIN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2015 
TAGS: EAGR, ECON, EFIN, PGOV, PHUM, ZI, Land Reform 
SUBJECT: ISOLATED LAND SEIZURES BUT MIXED SIGNALS ON 
"FASTER TRACK" LAND REFORM 
 
REF: HARARE 01156 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR CHRISTOPHER DELL UNDER SECTION 1.4 B/D 
 
1.  (C)  Summary:  Incendiary comments about "Faster Track" 
land reform by GOZ Ministers may have spurred some recent 
isolated, but violent farm seizures, but it is unclear 
whether they signal a new series of farm invasions. 
Nevertheless, pressure on commercial farmers to give up their 
farms is incessant.  The Security and Justice Ministers, 
rabble rousing remarks about clearing out white farmers and 
conducting a mopping up exercise, plus passage of the 
constitutional amendment depriving displaced farmers of all 
legal recourse, could be perceived by greedy ZANU-PF 
stalwarts as a green light for a land grab. End Summary. 
 
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GOZ Rabble Rousing on Farm Takovers 
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2.  (U)  Addressing a land audit meeting in Masvingo province 
earlier in September, Minister for State Security Land, Land 
Reform and Resettlement Didymus Mutasa reportedly said the 
remaining white commercial farmers must be "cleared out" 
under a new land re-settlement operation he dubbed "Faster 
Track."  According to press reports, Mutasa described white 
commercial farmers as "dirt" which needed to be cleansed.  On 
September 23, announcing that the GOZ had directed the 
Registrar of Deeds to immediately nullify all title deeds for 
the 4000 farms nationalized by the Constitutional Amendment 
Act (reftel), Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary 
Affairs Patrick Chinamasa told the press "there will be a 
mopping up exercise with those farms who escaped the net 
being accounted for and gazetted for acquisition." Chinamasa 
added that farms protected under bilateral trade agreements 
would be acquired, but full compensation would be paid. 
 
3.  (SBU)  During the week of September 18, several farm 
invasions occurred in Manicaland province.  In Chipinge, the 
area with the highest number of remaining white-owned 
commercial farms in Zimbabwe, a senior CIO official, 
accompanied by local police, led an invading gang that 
attacked and drove off one farm manager, leaving him with a 
dozen stitches to the head, according to Commercial Farmers 
Union (CFU) President Doug Taylor-Freeme.  Meeting with 
Embassy econoffs on September 27, Taylor-Freeme commented 
that the invaded farms had had a history of confrontation 
with government officials.  Informed of the attacks, Mutasa 
backtracked on his threat and professed ignorance about the 
farm seizures, according to the press. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Taylor-Freeme said a further 10 commercial farmers 
in Manicaland had recently received letters signed by the 
local district administrator ordering them to stop farming 
immediately.  He also related that on the previous weekend, 
Mutasa, Chinamasa and Agriculture Minister Made had met in 
Rusape, Manicaland with a group of commercial farmers.  The 
Ministers told them they would have to reduce their number of 
farms from 40 down to 15.  No further details are available 
at this time.  According to Taylor-Freeme, there are still 
well over 500 white commercial farmers operating in Zimbabwe, 
down from 4500 in 2000.  They have all received section 7 
notices of imminent physical takeover of their farms.  Some 
have made "arrangements" at the local level to continue 
operations; others had, until passage of the constitutional 
amendment, pursued legal redress. 
 
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Comment 
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5.  (C)  It is unclear at this point whether the latest round 
of farm seizures reflects new GOZ policy and the start of a 
new concerted wave of GOZ-sanctioned takeovers, or if this is 
a series of isolated events.  Local politicians and ZANU-PF 
cadres at the provincial level appear to be interpreting the 
the Security and Justice Ministers' incendiary remarks 
according to their own personal ends and ambitions. 
Furthermore, the constitutional amendment depriving displaced 
farmers of all legal recourse no doubt presents a "green 
light" to ambitious and greedy Party stalwarts eager to 
obtain free land at the expense of the remaining white 
commercial farms.  What is clear is that the Ministers' 
appearance before the Rusape farmers, and their call to shut 
down more commercial farms signal no let up to the pressure 
on white farmers to pack their bags. 
 
6. (C)  Whether these incidents are isolated, violent land 
grabs, or generally reflect a renewed GOZ focus on driving 
out the remaining white commercial farmers, they will only 
further feed the international perception of Zimbabwe as a 
basket case and inappropriate destination for investment. 
The GOZ,s ability to shoot itself in the foot, when it is 
already limping, seems endless.  As the country approaches 
yet another food shortage, the decision to attack the few 
remaining productive farms is mind boggling. End Comment. 
DELL