Zimbabwe's farmers face uncertainty and violence

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwean war veterans are still beating and intimidating white farmers and their black workers on hundreds of farms occupied since February, the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said on Friday.

The union representing 4,500 mainly white commercial farmers said in a statement there was uncertainty about their future following mixed messages from President Robert Mugabe and his announcement of an extended land seizure programme.

The CFU said it was getting daily reports of violence despite Wednesday's national strike to press the government to restore order and end the occupation of white-owned farms.

Overnight on Wednesday, 40 veterans held hostage 17 white farmers who had attempted to rescue a colleague after he had raised a distress call following attempts to force him off his farm.

The CFU said five bull sales, a major part of the farming calendar, had been put back to mid-August or September from either last month or early August.

White farmers and their staff were being beaten or threatened, often in the presence of police, and some had been forced to leave their farms, the CFU said in a statement.

It linked some of the fresh attacks to its backing of a paralyzing one-day strike called on Wednesday by the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and supported by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

In one incident in the Marondera district, north of Harare, the union said: "(War veterans) tried to force a farmer to admit the CFU initiated the shutdown and told him to leave the farm."

"An assault on one of the women was attended by police. War veterans in Suffolk were aggressive because of the stay away," the CFU said.

Elsewhere, veterans had built shacks on land being prepared for planting and workers had been assaulted during a lunch break on Thursday.

Farmers uncertain about future

Close to 1,000 white-owned farms have been occupied by veterans of the 1970s liberation war in the former Rhodesia and supporters of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party since February. The veterans say they want to restore land stolen from their forefathers by British colonists.

At least 31 people were killed and hundreds were beaten and injured in violence before parliamentary elections in June.

The CFU said farmers were uncertain about their future following Mugabe's announcement on Monday that he was extending a programme of land seizures from 804 to more than 3,000 farms.

White farmers have launched a Supreme Court challenge on the constitutional legality of the government's acquisition plan.

After five hours of talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday, Mugabe appeared ready for compromise, saying he would move veterans off farms by the end of August.

But on Thursday, he made a sudden turnabout, denying he had any plans to move the veterans off occupied farms and reaffirming his resolve to seize more white farms.

Opposition MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube told Reuters Mugabe's actions threatened Zimbabwe's future and the MDC and its ZCTU ally would continue to press for the rule of law.

"The president is keen to perpetuate terror, at least for the next 18 months," Ncube said. "He is keen to ensure that the population is intimidated ahead of the 2002 presidential elections. That is why he does not want to move veterans out."

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party won 62 seats to 58 for the opposition in a parliamentary election in June. But because the president nominates 30 more legislators, he has a comfortable majority in the assembly.

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