Zimbabwe farmers say war veterans disrupt planting

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwean farmers are not planting crucial crops because of disruptions caused by war veterans occupying their properties, the Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said on Friday.

In its latest update on the farm crisis, the CFU said the war veterans, acting with district authority officials and the police, continued settling people haphazardly on farms and in most cases stopping farmers and laborers from planting.

"Tension between invaders and the farmers and their labor is high. Illegal movement of cattle, work stoppages, illegal planting in prepared lands by invaders continue," the CFU said, adding: "Police action is still very biased against farmers."

In Beatrice 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Harare, invaders had given workers at one farm an ultimatum to leave within 10 days or be killed, and had burnt down one laborer's house.

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Agriculture accounts for 20 percent of Zimbabwe's gross domestic product.

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court this week reserved judgment on a case by the 4,500-member CFU challenging the constitutionality of President Robert Mugabe's power to seize their land with no obligation to pay compensation.

The CFU filed an application in September to contest the legality of the land seizures, which Mugabe says will correct imbalances created by colonial rule.

Mugabe, who backs the farm invasions, says it is immoral for 4,500 white farmers to control more than 70 percent of the country's prime farming land.

The opposition MDC party won an unprecedented 57 out of 120 elected seats in parliamentary elections in June that were preceded by five months of violence. At least 31 people, mainly MDC supporters and five white farmers, were killed in the unrest.

Earlier this year Mugabe amended the constitution to give him the power to seize white-owned farms for blacks with no obligation to pay for the land. He says former colonial ruler Britain must compensate the farmers.

The government has given notice to acquire more than 2,000 of the 3,041 farms it has targeted for the exercise.

On Thursday a London newspaper reported that Britain and Zimbabwe were moving towards resolving the dispute over land reform and that the United Nations Development Programme had produced a plan for the gradual redistribution of land.

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