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http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/08/12/zimbabwe.speech/index.html
Mugabe reforms 'threaten disaster'
August 12, 2002 Posted: 2:09 PM EDT (1809 GMT)
Mugabe insists a deadline remains in force for white farmers to quit their land
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Opponents of Robert Mugabe's controversial land reforms are warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in southern Africa after the Zimbabwean president told white farmers they must quit their land.
Mugabe said the government would not back down on its controversial policy, despite domestic opposition and sanctions being imposed by western nations, and that the August 8 deadline for whites to leave their farms remained in place.
In his first speech to the nation since the order came into effect, he said: "No enemy is too big or too powerful to be fought and vanquished for this land. Our people are the principal owners of this land. We will not budge."
But Adrian Laguna, spokesman for the Freedom For Zimbabwe campaign, told CNN: "The farming community has been devastated by the policies of Robert Mugabe and his regime, and... we now have six million people facing starvation
"There is a humanitarian catastrophe emerging in southern Africa, since Zimbabwe exports food to Malawi, Zambia and other neighbouring countries and those states will not be able to feed their populations." (Q&A: Land reform)
Mugabe's government had ordered 2,900 of the remaining 4,500 white commercial farmers to surrender their lands to black settlers without compensation by midnight (2200 GMT) last Thursday.
The reform programme, which has led to a tightening of Western sanctions against Mugabe and his top aides, is being driven to a climax amid a worsening regional food crisis.
Up to 13 million people, close to half of them in Zimbabwe, could starve over the next six months as a result of drought and political mismanagement across six countries in the region, the U.N. World Food Program has warned.
Jenni Williams, spokeswoman for the Justice for Agriculture pressure group in Zimbabwe, told Reuters news agency she was disappointed that Mugabe had offered nothing that would help avert the threatened famine.
"The reprieve expected from the speech did not show. It is unfortunate that, coming from Mugabe's side, there has been no acceptance of responsibility (for the food crisis)," she said.
Unidentified farmers listen to speakers at the annual congress of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union in Harare
"We as farmers accept that land must be redistributed, but we do feel our political leaders must understand that in land reform you can't compromise production or you will have starving Zimbabweans," she said.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in a statement Mugabe's land policy had cost 70,000 black farmworkers their jobs and had affected 250,000 dependants.
"Mugabe's fast-track land resettlement programme is not only defined by its illegality and its violence, but also by its crude short-sightedness and political opportunism," it said.
Colin Cloete, president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), said it appeared Mugabe had toned down his rhetoric, but that his message on redistribution had remained consistent. "It could have been worse than that," he told Reuters.
Cloete and other farm sources said they were confused by Mugabe's comment that no farmer would be left landless, adding that many had been ordered to surrender all their land.
Mugabe said he was pursuing a "one farmer, one farm policy" with a place for "well-meaning white farmers who wish to pursue a farming career as loyal citizens of this country."
Vernon Nicolle, one of the farmers resisting eviction, told Reuters Mugabe had not sent a clear message to farmers or to the self-styled war veterans waiting to take over abandoned farms.
"I know of a big percentage of farmers who have left their farms, who have been forced to evacuate or who have been physically pushed off their farms, who had only one farm."
Ben Zietsman, of the Commercial Farmers Union which represents 4,000 white farmers across the country, said much uncertainty remained.
"There is some relief that it seems there won't be a mass avalanche of evictions," he said.
Mugabe insists the land seizures are meant to right the wrongs of British colonialism, which left 70 percent of the best farmland in white hands.
Farming sources estimate 40 percent of the farmers have obeyed Mugabe's instruction to hand their land over, but others have been holding on in the hope of a reprieve from the country's courts or from Mugabe.
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