US embassy cable - 03HARARE301

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000301 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EAGR, PHUM, PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: ANOTHER AMCIT PROPERTY FORMALLY SEIZED 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET POSTING. 
 
1. (SBU)  Summary.  A fourth American-owned property has now 
received final notice of acquisition from the Minister of 
Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement.  The other forcibly 
acquired properties now occupy a limbo as their owners pursue 
various legal challenges and political solutions.  Although 
the most recently acquired property was purchased well after 
independence and was designated as a "wildlife conservancy," 
two categories which should have offered some protection, it 
is unclear whether protests, legal challenges, or personal 
relationships will be enough to return possession of the 
property to the Amcit title holders.  End summary. 
 
2. (SBU)  The Zimbabwean property belonging to two American 
citizens, Sam and Janet Chambliss, was served with a Section 
8 notice, or Final Notice of Acquisition, on January 26, 
2003.  The Chamblisses bought their property in 1985, and 
after investing close to US $750,000, they formally 
incorporated the property as a wildlife conservancy under 
Zimbabwe law in 1993.  Approximately fifteen separate farms 
in the Midlands province were served with Section 8 notices 
that same weekend, despite the GOZ's oft-repeated claim last 
November and December that "the land resettlement program is 
now complete."  Post responded, as we have for other American 
citizens in similar situations, with a diplomatic note of 
protest addressed to the Foreign Ministry, which has gone 
unanswered. 
 
3. (SBU)  In this case, Ambassador Sullivan also called the 
Governor of the Midlands province, Cephas Msipa, to discuss 
the forced acquisition.  Governor Msipa is a personal friend 
of the Chamblisses and had previously managed to cushion them 
to some degree from the chaotic land grab.  In one instance 
during the fall of 2002, while the Chamblisses were in the 
United States on personal business, a Harare physician showed 
up at the rural property and advised the caretaker that he 
was there to claim the farm.  The Chamblisses contacted 
Governor Msipa from the US; Msipa assured them that the 
claimant was not legitimate and that they could ignore the 
attempted land-grab and return to their property. 
 
4. (SBU)  Governor Msipa advised the Ambassador that he had 
spoken with the Chamblisses the day before his conversation 
with the Ambassador.  Msipa claimed that he did not 
understand why the new Section 8 notices had gone out, since 
the GOZ had agreed on December 8 not to notify any 
conservancy owners of impending acquisition until a general 
land policy toward conservancies was agreed upon and 
implemented.  Msipa feared that Minister of Lands, 
Agriculture and Resettlement Joseph Made made the decision to 
seize the Midlands properties on his own.  Msipa stated that 
he had already raised the issue of both the conservancy 
status of the property as well as US citizen ownership with 
Vice President Msika and other relevant ministers. 
 
5. (SBU)  In a recent meeting with Laboff, Ambassador Lucas 
Tavaya, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment 
and Tourism, argued that that "many" farmers had previously 
chosen to turn productive farmland to the cultivation of 
wildlife, to their personal benefit and the detriment of 
Zimbabwe's food security.  Laboff was further advised that 
"(private) conservancies were not recognized under Zimbabwe 
law."  When pressed with the question of whether the GOZ 
refused to recognize the existence of private conservancies 
such as Malilangwe, Save Valley Conservancy, and Bubiana 
Conservancy,  Ambassador Tavaya backtracked and stated that 
"most farms calling themselves conservancies did not meet the 
definition of a conservancy."  It may be that this latest 
sweep of Section 8 notices is merely intended to seize white 
commercial farmland that had previously fallen through 
procedural cracks.  However, Ambassador Tavaya's ambiguous 
comments about the legal status of conservancies may indicate 
that the GOZ is attempting to sidestep its previously stated 
support of private conservancies in order to justify forced 
acquisition.  Against a concerted GOZ attempt to acquire 
wildlife conservancies, simply calling a farm a "conservancy" 
-- regardless of the legal steps taken to dedicate such farms 
to wildlife conservation -- will no longer offer any 
protection to landowners. 
 
6. (SBU)  At this point, it appears that the Section 8 notice 
gives the Chamblisses ninety days to vacate their property -- 
forty-five days to wind up their "farming" operations, and a 
further forty-five days to vacate their homestead.  Although 
they must vacate this property within the stipulated period, 
the Chamblisses would retain, nonetheless, the right to 
pursue their case through the courts.  It is unclear whether 
the intervention of Post or of Governor Msipa will help the 
Chamblisses retain possession of their property. 
SULLIVAN