(NEWZIMBABWE) CFU slams MDC-T on land
Sunday, 05 May 2013 00:00
Tinashe Farawo
The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) has castigated the MDC-T for its lack of a clear land policy and has pledged to work with the “Government of the day to discuss agricultural issues.”
The CFU, which has been part of the MDC-T regime-change agenda for the past 14 years, has of late been making moves to normalise relations with Zanu-PF amid indications that the revolutionary party is headed for a massive victory in general elections set for this year.
In an interview on the sidelines of a policy dialogue meeting held in Harare last week, the union’s president, Mr Charles Taffs, acknowledged that the country’s agricultural production has been a success and is irreversible. Mr Taffs added that his organisation was ready to work with a Zanu-PF Government after this year’s elections as the party has a clear land policy.
“As farmers we are ready to work with the Government of the day,” he said.
“Yes, in the past some of our members used to help the MDC-T financially, but this was not a CFU position. As the CFU, we remain committed to working with the political party that forms the Government of the day.”
Mr Taffs noted that unlike Zanu-PF, which has a clear-cut land policy which it has been religiously pursuing to the benefit of the previously marginalised black majority, the MDC-T does not have a land policy.
The CFU boss noted that because Zanu-PF has a clear stance on the land question, his members know the direction the party will take when it wins the next elections while the same cannot be said about the MDC-T which always flips-flops on policy matters.
“We don’t know what the MDC-T will do if they happen to win the elections. Clearly they don’t have a policy on land as yet. Maybe they are going to unveil it as the elections draw closer,” said Mr Taffs.
He revealed that his organisation was lobbying for the formation of a single farmer representative union.
“We believe that our interests as farmers are the same so we are saying let’s fight from the same corner and organise ourselves into one union.
“The agricultural sector has been improving, especially in tobacco, but more still needs to be done to improve our production levels across all sectors,” he said.
Mr Taffs conceded that Britain left the Zimbabwean Government with little choice when it reneged on a pledge to provide funds to compensate farmers whose land would have been repossessed under the agrarian reform programme.
“It’s unfortunate that it was not in black and white, so when Britain reneged on that pledge, the Zimbabwean Government did what we all know in 2000.
“The question now is how we move forward as a nation,” said Mr Taffs.
Labels: CFU, CHARLIE TAFFS, LAND REFORM
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COMMENT - First Gideon Gono, now Deon Theron joins the bandwagon. I want to see their data, just to make sure they aren't pulling their numbers from somewhere. Because there is plenty of data to show that most of the land went to ordinary people, under the A1 and even A2 land redistribution programmes. What Deon Theron does not address is the impact of the credit freeze the government was put under by ZDERA, since Jan. 1 2002. To him, as the head of the Commercial Farmers Union, it was all land redistribution that did it, and that of course is highly suspicious.
Land reforms cost economy $12bn, claims CFU
03/08/2011 00:00:00
by AFP
ZIMBABWE'S land reforms have cost the economy US$12 billion in lost agricultural production over the past decade, the mainly white Commercial Farmers' Union said Wednesday.
President Robert Mugabe's government has publicly insisted that the land reforms were necessary to correct colonial-era injustices by resettling blacks on white-owned land, and that no one should have more than one farm. But CFU president Deon Theron said that Mugabe and his family now own 39 farms, according to a survey by the union.
"Records show that the majority of land has been given to senior politicians, senior members of the security forces, judges, so-called 'ar veterans, civil servants, high-profile clerics and relatives of senior politicians," Theron said.
"For example, President Mugabe and his family own 39 farms," Theron said in the report.
Mugabe launched a land reform programme in 2000 which saw the seizure of more than 3,000 of the country's 4,500 white-owned farms by militant supporters of his party.
Once a food exporter, Zimbabwe has since relied on international aid to feed all of its people.
Theron blamed the land seizures for the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy over the past decade.
"Previously highly productive farms that have been acquired by the government are now producing either very little or nothing," he said.
"Sadly we will once again be unable to feed the nation, and will have to rely on costly imports while vast tracts of prime agricultural land lie unutilised."
The United Nations on Tuesday said Zimbabwe requires an additional $73 million in food aid to avert hunger caused by drought which affected several parts of the country.
Zimbabwe's needs had already been estimated at $415 million this year, but the drought has worsened food shortages in parts of the country, the United Nations said.
Labels: CFU, DEON THERON, LAND REFORM
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CFU hints farm murder political
by Staff Reporter
28/10/2010 00:00:00
THE main farmers’ union has tied the murder of a commercial farmer on his property in Chegutu to the “flagrant disregard for the rule of law in these areas over the last ten years” – strongly hinting the murder was political.
Kobus Joubert was shot dead on Monday night by unknown assailants on his farm, Scotsdale, about 95 kilometres south west of Harare. At least
13 white farmers have been killed since the start of land invasions in 2000, mainly spearheaded by veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war.
The Commercial Farmers’ Union said: “The shooting at point blank range of another white farmer in the Selous district of Zimbabwe again highlights the deteriorating situation currently being faced in the rural farming areas.
“This is a symptom of the flagrant disregard for the rule of law in these areas over the last ten years and the CFU urgently requests that the authorities take immediate action.”
[That's hyperbole. 13 farmers killed out of 4,500 in 10 years is not a 'flagrant disregard for the rule of law. Also, it is precious that these white farmers have suddenly discovered the 'rule of law', considering how they have and are treating 'their farm workers'. They received their land as the result of criminal acts - murder and theft - and now the people who it was stolen from are taking it back. Too late to start crying about the 'rule of law' - unless of course that's code for white privilege. - MrK]
Joubert, who was in his sixties, was a former president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA). His wife, Mariaan, was awoken shortly after midnight by a noise and went to investigate. She was attacked by two armed men in the bathroom and shouted to her husband to warn him of the intruders.
The men then forced her to keep quiet and she heard a single shot being fired in the bedroom. When she screamed, they assaulted her and demanded money. They then took her handbag, searched the cupboards and pocketed “a sizeable amount of US dollars in cash”, the CFU said in a statement.
They also grabbed three cell phones and demanded that she hand over the laptop. Fortunately, the power failed, causing the lights to go out and the men immediately left the house without causing further injury or taking the laptop.
She rushed to help her husband but he had already succumbed to a fatal gunshot wound.
“Neighbours called the police, who on this occasion arrived to investigate,” the CFU said, conveying a sense of frustration at what it sees as law enforcement’s failure to deal with violent crime targeting its members.
The CFU said prior to the land invasions, Joubert farmed 500 ha of land but this year, “given the insecurity of the situation in the commercial farming sector”, he planted just 50ha of tobacco, down from around 70ha last year. He also grew a small crop of maize and sorghum and had a herd of beef cattle.
In August 2008, Joubert, his wife and some of their farm workers were evicted from their farm and ended up camping on the roadside in a lay-by with their few meager possessions.
Later that month the Jouberts’ application to the High Court was successful and the illegal orders granted to the beneficiary by a magistrate’s court were annulled, enabling the couple to return to their farm.
When Joubert was president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association, tobacco was the country’s most important cash crop and the ZTA members used to generate 40 percent of the country’s export earnings.
The Joubert’s son is flying in from Australia on Friday to support his mother; his sister is already at her side, the CFU said.
Labels: CFU, FARM MURDERS, KOBUS JOUBERT
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COMMENT - The idea that returning land stolen on a racial basis is racist is absurd, but that is what the SADC tribunal 'found'.
Farmers’ union urges Zim govt to respect SADC land ruling
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Sunday, September 13, 2009 8:18:20 AM
THE Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) has said Zimbabwe's justice minister Patrick Chinamasa will be personally liable if Zimbabwe disregards the SADC Tribunal's ruling on the white farmers contesting their land.
CFU vice-president Charles Taffs stated that Chinamasa's position that Zimbabwe would no longer be bound by the sub-regional court’s decisions was not supported by any law.
"We do not know if the minister involved...had duly consulted with the inclusive government and had authority to take the action or make the statements he has made. Without authority, naturally he will be personally responsible for any consequences," Taffs' statement read.
Chinamansa, in a letter dated August 7, 2009, told the SADC Tribunal that Zimbabwe would no longer appear before, or respect any decisions from the Tribunal arguing that it had not been properly constituted.
He argued that there was never any basis upon which the Tribunal could seek to find jurisdiction on Zimbabwe based on the Protocol that had not yet been ratified by two-thirds of the total membership of SADC.
Chinamasaís decision was a blow to 79 white commercial farmers who had won their cases in the sub-regional court, blocking the government from acquiring their farms. The farmers are members of the CFU.
The Tribunal had made two judgments in their favour barring the land acquisition.
Taffs stated that the Tribunal record showed that Chinamasa had previously accepted that Zimbabwe was bound by the Tribunal’s rulings and must respect them.
"...all legal advice we have received, all documents filed with the Tribunal by the Attorney General's Office until now, and the independent legal opinions we have seen, do not support the Minister's belated change of stance," stated Taffs.
Labels: CFU, CHARLES TAFFS, LAND REFORM, SADC
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Mutambara, Gifford: Zimbabwe's two political comedians
Peter Chimutsa - Opinion
Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:16:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR - Yesterday I read two interesting pieces of news on SW Radio Africa that were not only laughable, but could not go unchallenged. The first one was a statement by Commercial Farmers' Union chief Trevor Gifford and the other by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
Mr Gifford said he was compiling a list of farm invaders that will be used in aiding the process of national healing someday. Mr Gifford takes us for fools. This arrogance by the white commercial farmers is the source of some of the problems we experience in Zimbabwe today.
If he wanted his organisation to be part of the national healing exercise, he should let the authorities do their work and not run these vigilantism and parallel processes disguised as national in agenda. We know whose interest the CFU protects. They have never wanted to be part of any national exercise.
Mr Gifford should tell black Zimbabweans what happened to their ancestral lands pre-1980 and where the graves of their forefathers are today before he tries to lecture people about land rights and some of these very illusive concepts he dreams about.
I would challenge the CFU to start their compilation from as far back as the 1930s when notorious pieces of legislation, that removed blacks from their lands, were introduced in Zimbabwe.
Trying to mask the compilation of this list as part of the national healing process is cheap politicking. Why does he forget about the healing of those blacks who were tortured and beaten off their lands? Who is going to draw the list for the Tangwena people and all those other people who were dispossessed? Why are they not going to be included in the CFU's list?
Mr Gifford surely cannot determine when he wants the history of Zimbabwe to start. Many comrades died to get that stolen land and that fight will never be reversed by anyone. He should stop day-dreaming and start living in the real world.
Even the GPA is clear on the land issue: it is simply irreversible.
DPM Mutambara told SWRA that the National Heroes Acre must be a national shrine not just a Zanu PF shrine. He said a National Heroes Selection Board is going to be created that will be above politics, is non-partisan, and involves the private sector and civil society.
I do not know where the DPM, who has now transformed into a caricature character, get these ideas sometimes. There are many non-Zanu PF comrades who lie today at the Heroes' Acre. In any case, it is a resting place for people who fought in the liberation struggle, not for musicians and his so-called private sector and civil society. Every country, even Britain has a place where those who fought in major wars lie.
Maybe DPM Mutambara is flirting with the idea that one day his bones will lie at the national shrine. He can continue day-dreaming.
If DPM Mutambara wants civil society and private sector people to be honoured, he should propose another place where these people can be buried. The national shrine is for those people who fought in the liberation struggle; not for comedians like him.
__________________
Peter Chimutsa
peterchimutsa@yahoo.com
Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA, CFU, COLONIALISM, LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, TREVOR GIFFORD
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White farmer axe murder not politically motivated: CFU
VOA/TZG reporters
Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:43:00 +0000
THE head of Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union said Wednesday that there was probably no political motive in the axe murder Friday of white commercial farmer Bob Vaughn-Evans.
Vaughn-Evans was the director of the dominantly white organization, who was attacked at his home in Gweru with his wife.
Vaughan-Evans's wife Jean was reported to be in serious condition at Gweru Hospital. It was the third attack on the couple and an earlier assault left her wheelchair-bound.
Commercial Farmers' Union President Trevor Gifford told VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that preliminary investigations suggest the couple was attacked by criminals who have attacked and robbed vulnerable residents in the Gweru area.
Vaughan-Evans, a well-known agriculturalist and conservationist, represented the farmers union in Midlands province, of which Gweru is the capital.
VOA/TZG
Labels: CFU, CRIME, WHITE FARMERS
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CFU says PM 'playing a game'
by
23/06/2009 00:00:00
THE Commercial Farmers’ Union accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of “playing a game” last night after he said on a visit to England that reports of fresh farm invasions were exaggerated.
Tsvangirai has faced a torrent of questions about farm invasions since arriving in the United Kingdom last Friday. On Sunday, he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “The incidence of so-called farm invasions … I can count them.”
The Prime Minister said there was “no explosion” of farm grabs. “It’s not like we have started all over again to disrupt farm production.”
Once again on Monday, at a joint press conference, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown committed £5 million in aid to Zimbabwe but demanded an “immediate stop to land seizures”.
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Trevor Gifford, the president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), told SW Radio Africa on Monday night that Tsvangirai was “playing a game” in order to raise financial support for the unity government.
“The government has always wanted the remaining commercial, white farmers off farms. Farmers are being persecuted and abused in farm attacks that have been all but legalised in terms of the law, because of offer letters,” Gifford said.
President Robert Mugabe has previously said that white farmers are refusing to leave land legally acquired for resettlement by the government. The unity government says new farmers turning up to claim their allocated land are facing resistance from the former white land owners who then complain of “fresh farm invasions”.
Tsvangirai, concluding his world tour to raise political and financial support for the government, has been met with scepticism by western leaders who question President Mugabe’s commitment to democratic reforms.
The Prime Minister leaves the UK for France on Wednesday, his last stop before returning home.
Labels: CFU, LAND REFORM, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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Commercial farmers accuse Tsvangirai of playing down invasion
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 1:45:13 AM
The Commercial farmers Union (CFU) of Zimbabwe has accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of playing down the allegedly continuing farm invasions around the country in order to secure aid from donors.
CFU vice president Deon Theron said the allegedly continuing farm attacks in Zimbabwe were evidence that little had changed since the formation of the inclusive government.
He was responding to Tsvangirai’s statement over the weekend in which he referred to the alleged farm attacks as “isolated incidents that had been blown out of proportion.”
But Theron issued a statement stating that Tsvangirai’s statements were a clear attempt to “gloss over the truth to encourage Western donors to loosen their purse strings.”
Theron stated that Tsvangirai was deliberately playing down the problem because the government was desperate to secure foreign investment.
He said Tsvangirai’s comments were “absurd” that farm attacks had drastically increased since Tsvangirai was sworn into the government in February.
“It is like hoodwinking the international community into giving up funds by making them believe everything is fine on the agricultural front,” said Theron, who was arrested in March for video-taping the accident scene at which Tsvangirai’s wife died before police arrived.
Theron warned that if agriculture in Zimbabwe did not recover, then Zimbabwe would not recover. During an interview about the 100-day milestone of the Global Political Agreement, Tsvangirai said farm attacks had dwindled.
“We have investigated examples of those so-called farm invasions,” he said. “We have asked the minister of lands to give us a detailed report of what has been happening over all these so called farm invasions and the outcry over that.”
Labels: CFU, DEON THERON, LAND REFORM, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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COMMENT - They are now trying to spin,
quoting unnamed sources, that the driver of the truck was 'a CIO operative'. The problem with that allegation, is that all fingers point to the white farmers/UK/USA on this issue. Right down from the denial of the lifting of sanctions, to the Prime Minister's statement that land reform will not be turned back, to the crash truck's John Snow International ownership and USAID mission, to now the presence of the picture taking VP of the CFU on the scene, before the arrival of the police. And it could still be an accident, but this is just suspicious.
Zimbabwe police arrest farmer over Tsvangirai accident video footage
Written by George Chellah in Harare
Friday, March 20, 2009 3:54:45 PM
ZIMBABWEAN Police have arrested a commercial farmer, Deon Theron who was found taking video footage at the accident scene where Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife died.
Theron was the first person to arrive at the accident scene and is alleged to have taken video footage of the crash before the police arrived. Police chief spokesperson senior assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed Theron's arrest.
"We have arrested Theron and he is in police custody. He will appear in court on Thursday," Bvudzijena said.
In a latest twist of events, the country's Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), a white farmers' association, has allegedly been implicated in the accident.
Theron, 54 who is the vice-president of the union, is facing charges of obstructing police officers during their duty.
It is believed that Theron had been phoned by some MDC officials just after the news of the accident had spread and he arrived at the scene before police because his farm was within that area.
It is also believed that Theron was tasked to film the accident scene to provide an independent record in case of an inquiry.
Zimbabwean state media on Monday questioned how a team led by Theron was able to be at the scene of the crash, before the police.
Theron and his team had been promptly arrested by police and their photographic equipment seized, before being released later on.
It has also turned out that John Snow International (JSI), a contracting company that owns the ‘killer truck' is headquartered at Agriculture House in Marlborough suburb in Harare.
This building is the headquarters of the Commercial Farmers Union.
However, CFU chief executive officer Hendrik Olivier, in reaction to state The Herald newspaper story, said the article bore no truth.
"On Tuesday 17 March 2009 the Herald newspaper carried a front page article ‘CFU Implicated in Tsvangirai Crash'. The Union is consulting with its legal representative on the article as in our opinion the article bears no truth. We will take the necessary legal action should this be advised and members will be kept informed," Olivier stated.
The union confirmed that its vice-president Theron was called by the Criminal Investigation Department Law and Order Unit of the Zimbabwe Republic Police for questioning regarding the taking of photographs at the site of the Prime Minister's accident.
Olivier stated that Theron had been taken into custody and was being held at Rhodesville Police Station on what would appear charges of "defeating the cause of justice."
There has been controversy surrounding the accident that claimed Prime Minister Tsvangirai's wife, Susan, about two weeks ago, with former information minister and Tsholotsho North independent member of parliament Professor Jonathan Moyo calling for international investigation into the activities of USAID in Zimbabwe.
Prof Moyo's observations forced the US embassy in Harare to deny ownership of the truck that killed the Prime Minister's wife despite the truck bearing US embassy plates.
Another USAID driver, Frank Muchirahondo, is currently facing charges for attempting to assassinate Air Force of Zimbabwe commander, Air Marshal Perence Shiri.
Labels: ASSASSINATION, CAR ACCIDENTS, CFU, DEON THERON, FRANK MUCHIRAHONDO, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, PERENCE SHIRI, SUSAN TSVANGIRAI, USAID
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Govt expresses support for farmers’ joint project
Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT has said it fully supports the Union Project, which was established by the country’s three farming organisations, The Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, Commercial Farmers’ Union and the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union to prop up the agricultural sector.
Under the project, farmer organisations are involved in the implementation of several projects with support from the European Union and Stabex’95 funds.
The project promotes private sector participation through contract farming for crop and livestock production.
Officially launching the project in Harare yesterday, the Minister of Agricultural Engineering, Mechanisation and Irrigation, Senator Joseph Made, who is also the Acting Minister of Agriculture, commended the formation of the project.
The Union Project, he said would have far-reaching positive production impact on smallholder farmers guaranteeing national and rural household food security, jobs and incomes.
Some of the schemes receiving funding are livestock production through the provision of vaccines, rehabilitation of the Central Veterinary Laboratory for vaccine production and dip tank rehabilitation in communal areas.
"Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, supports these projects. Government appreciates the continued support of the agricultural sector by the international community.
"Agriculture is the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy as well as the mainstay of livelihoods in the rural areas and the smallholder communal farmers," he said.
Funding is also provided for crop production, institutional capacity building and conservation agriculture.
Sen Made said the Union Project has schemes in Guruve, Karoi, Kadoma, Masvingo, Rusape, Honde Valley, Chinamhora and Murehwa where about 1 085 farmers had been engaged.
By the end of the project, more than 3 000 farmers are expected to have benefited.
With support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, European Union, the South African and Spanish governments, the project intends to increase food security through intensive extension, training and input support.
It also aims to introduce improved land use and land management farming methods and to set up market linkages with the private sector, including contract farming and input credit schemes.
Labels: CFU, FARMING, UNION PROJECT, ZCFU, ZFU
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Farmers’ union blasts continued illegal sanctions
Herald Reporter
CONTINUED illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe are detrimental to economic development, the ordinary people and the country as whole, the Commercial Farmers' Union has said. In a statement issued following a meeting with Government officials and Ministers in Harare, CFU took a swipe on the embargoes.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Cde Didymus Mutasa, Minister of State for Special Affairs Responsible for Land and Resettlement Programme Cde Flora Buka, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Senator Aguy Georgias and senior Government officials.
"As citizens and investors of this country, commercial farmers do not condone actions that are undertaken to the detriment of the people of this country.
"We will continue to work on our core business to promote viable agricultural production through the optimisation of the use of land in the country," the body said.
The Government has previously expressed concern with the perceived lack of respect by CFU members for its authority and the tendency to disobey new land laws promulgated by Parliament.
Of late, some CFU members have been under fire for allegedly throwing spanners into the land reform programme to cripple agricultural production.
Acting CFU president Mr Deon Theron said the union was committed to the pursuit of negotiation and dialogue to resolve national and international differences.
"The union respects the sovereignty of the country and believes that it remains for Zimbabweans to solve Zimbabwean problems," he said. CFU, he said, remains ready to contribute positively to the national economy through the production of crops, livestock and sharing of expertise with new farmers.
The CFU statement comes in the wake of remarks by both factions of the MDC supporting the ongoing dialogue between the opposition party and Zanu-PF during debate on the Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 18, which the two parties co-sponsored in Parliament.
Secretary General of the Mutambara-led faction Professor Welshman Ncube said the two parties had taken the right steps to address the socio-economic challenges facing the country and were impressed with the progress made by the dialogue.
He said: "As the negotiating teams move on with the rest of the agenda (of the talks), electoral laws, AIPPA and indeed the question of sanctions, we will deal with them and we hope to find each other.
"We believe we cannot continue to conduct politics for the sake of politics. We should begin to conduct politics for the service of the people," Prof Ncube said while contributing to debate on the Bill, which now awaits President Mugabe’s assent.
Mr Theron said CFU members were using their land and co-existing with communal and new farmers.
"We are also assisting communal and neighbouring farmers in the agricultural sector and we have also formally applied for the necessary authority to farm to the Ministry of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement in the form of 99-year leases," he said.
Labels: CFU, LAND REFORM, SANCTIONS, ZIMBABWE
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